FEBRUARY 21, 2025 – A new article published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) calls for a focused strategy and more investment to address the world’s leading killer diseases. The article outlines specific, effective, and measurable steps countries can take to make progress and increase the chances that the upcoming 2025 United Nations High-Level Meeting on Noncommunicable Diseases delivers results. Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) account for three fourths of global deaths, yet the three previous high-level meetings on the topic have failed to drive meaningful progress, according to the piece.
The article is co-authored by Dr. George Alleyne, Director Emeritus of PAHO; Dr. Awa Marie Coll-Seck, Former Minister of Health of Senegal; Dr. Christopher Tufton, Jamaica’s Minister of Health and Wellness; and Dr. Tom Frieden, president and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives.
“Every year the world continues to fail to make progress against our leading killers, more than a million people die young from preventable causes. Before, during, and after this September’s high-level meeting on NCDs countries must either take focused, strategic action, or allow their people to become disabled and die from preventable causes,” said Dr. Frieden, who is President and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives. “The world made a promise to reduce premature NCD deaths, and we must hold ourselves accountable to keeping it.”
The commentary notes that without urgent action, it will take another 45 years to meet the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target of reducing premature NCD deaths by one-third. This delay would result in more than 40 million preventable deaths by 2060, as well as continued loss of productivity and avoidable health care costs.
The piece outlines five solutions proven to save millions of lives from NCDs when implemented effectively:
- Increase taxes on tobacco, alcohol, and sugary beverages to prevent 50 million premature deaths over the next 50 years and generate $20 trillion in revenue
- Expand hypertension treatment to prevent up to 130 million deaths over 35 years
- Scale up cancer prevention, early detection, and treatment, including widespread HPV vaccination.
- Reduce air pollution through cleaner energy transitions and stricter emissions regulations to prevent at least 10 million deaths.
- Improve nutrition by mandating front-of-package warning labels and reducing sodium intake
Each of these measures is outlined in the following table, which details priority actions, their expected health impact, and how progress can be tracked.
The piece notes that if governments, civil society, and global institutions unite behind a data-driven strategy, the 2025 UN High-Level Meeting on NCDs can deliver actionable results. It also highlights the need for greater investment combating NCDs – particularly cardiovascular disease, the number one cause of death worldwide – including expanding access to antihypertensive medications and statins to save millions of lives.
The 2025 High-Level Meeting on NCDs will take place in New York City, just before the UN General Assembly, in September 2025.
