CITATION: The dialogue around NCDs needs to change
The Lancet Editorial, Volume 406, Issue 10506, p885 August 30, 2025
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(25)01743-X/fulltext?dgcid=raven_jbs_etoc_email
EXTRACT
In our first Editorial of 2025, we wrote that, to turn the tide on non-communicable diseases (NCDs), the pernicious influence and lobbying of health-harming industries must be confronted and overcome. 43 million lives are lost every year to NCDs, and up to 80% of these deaths could be prevented. 82% of premature deaths from NCDs occur in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). Three previous UN High-level Meetings on NCDs have failed to accelerate progress towards reducing rates of premature mortality. The chances of success of a fourth High-level Meeting, to be held on Sept 25 in New York at the UN General Assembly, do not look good.
The zero draft of the political declaration for the High-level Meeting, released in May, presented a reasonable starting point, with a welcome focus on health taxes... A robust accountability framework was absent.
It gets worse. By August 8, the draft had been watered down in key areas, likely through lobbying and undue influence by industry. Mentions of taxation of tobacco, alcohol, and SSBs had disappeared completely...
The 2023 Lancet Series on commercial determinants of health called for “commercial actors to end opposition to health regulatory policies, respect regulations to reduce harmful practices and products, and implement regenerative business models”. This message is more relevant than ever. Without a change in urgency to address the commercial determinants of health and a focus on young people, there will be a tsunami of NCDs rather than a turning of the tide.
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org