Reposted from SouthCentre.int

Statement by
DR. CARLOS CORREA
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

New York, 27 September 2018

Madam President,

It is an honor to address this Assembly on behalf of the South Centre on the occasion of the third High-Level Meeting on non communicable diseases (NCDs).

The South Centre is the inter-governmental organization created by developing countries, with currently 54 member States from Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean, to promote collaboration and solidarity towards their common objectives, seeking unity in diversity.

The growing burden of NCDs is a global health challenge affecting developed and developing countries. This third High-Level meeting on NCDs provides a timely opportunity to assess the progress made to date and to step up efforts that would allow us to achieve target 3.4 of the SDGs.

Each year, 15 million people die prematurely from a NCD; and over 85 per cent of these “premature” deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries. The burden of NDCs thus puts at risk gains made towards sustainable development, poverty reduction and reducing inequality.

Concerted global efforts must be directed at promoting healthier behavior and a healthy environment, while paying more attention to the underlying social determinants that condition and increase the vulnerability of people to risky behaviors for NDCs.

More progress needs to be made to improve access to affordable, good-quality essential medicines and vaccines for all. In addition to increasing investment in access, governments should put in place supportive policies and effective regulation. In this context, it is significant that the Declaration reaffirms the right of countries to the full use of the flexibilities of the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), in line with the recommendations by the UN High Level Panel on Access to Medicines. The South
Centre offers its technical support for the effective use of TRIPS flexibilities to promote access to medicines.

Importantly, this declaration supports governments’ actions, such as raising taxes, aimed at restricting the sale and marketing of products with high sugar, salt and/or fat content, tobacco and alcohol, as well as at increasing private sector’s accountability. Governments must regulate corporate behavior that may be an underlying driver of NCDs, including lobbying, advertising and promotion of unhealthy products, and consider the risks of conflicts of interest when involving corporations in designing or implementing policies.

This Declaration should be conducive to mobilize new financial resources and capacity building for developing countries that require support to enable them to meet the challenge posed by NCDs.

The South Centre welcomes this declaration and will continue to support developing countries as they design and implement measures to combat NCDs.