SEA/RC60/R4
SCALING UP PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF CHRONIC NONCOMMUNICABLE DISEASES IN THE SOUTH-EAST ASIA REGION
The Regional Committee, Recalling World Health Assembly resolutions WHA53.17, WHA56.1, WHA57.17 and WHA60.23, and its own resolutions SEA/RC52/R7 and SEA/RC53/R10 relating to the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), Realizing that the countries in the WHO South-East Asia Region experience an increasing burden (in health, social and economic status) being imposed by major NCDs such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancers and chronic respiratory diseases, and concerned that noncommunicable diseases are increasingly becoming common among the poor and marginalized population groups, Aware of the rapidity of epidemiological transition and globalization which will escalate these burdens over the next decades if appropriate public health action is not taken, Acknowledging that effective, efficient and affordable interventions are available to modify the common risk factors of NCDs, such as unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, alcohol and tobacco consumption, and of their socioeconomic determinants that lie outside the domain of the health sector, Recognizing the role of a “life course” approach which emphasizes the need of utilizing available health promotion and disease prevention strategies to minimize the risk of NCDs at each stage of life and the complementarities of a “population-based” and “individualcentred” intervention in achieving this, Appreciating the growing commitment of Member States towards integrated prevention and control of NCDs and the considerable progress achieved in this regard, and Having considered the recommendations of the Joint Meeting of Health Secretaries and the Consultative Committee for Programme Development and Management (CCPDM), held in the Regional Office in New Delhi, 2–6 July 2007, 1. ENDORSES the Regional Framework for Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases; 2. URGES Member States:
-2(a) to initiate appropriate steps based on the Regional Framework to formulate, update and strengthen national policies, strategies and programmes for integrated prevention and control of NCDs; (b) to establish suitable infrastructure and appropriate funding mechanisms for this purpose, and (c) to set up mechanisms to promote multilateral, multisectoral, multidisciplinary and multilevel collaboration for integrated prevention and control of NCDs and, in particular, to facilitate the establishment of national and regional networks for NCD prevention and control (SEANET-NCD), and 3. REQUESTS the Regional Director: (a) to provide technical assistance to Member States, and to mobilize necessary resources for developing the capacity to implement national policies, strategies and programmes for integrated prevention and control of NCDs, and to facilitate and coordinate international support of development partners, and (b) to report to the sixty-third session of the Regional Committee in 2010 on the progress achieved in implementing the Regional Framework.