Courtesy of Health Policy Watch
BREAKING: UN Declaration on Noncommunicable Diseases Fails to Win Approval After US Foils Consensus
https://healthpolicy-watch.news/un-declaration-on-noncommunicable-diseas...
'NEW YORK CITY – A painstakingly negotiated Political Declaration on Noncommunicable Diseases with overwhelming support from UN member states failed to win formal endorsement at a special High Level Session of the General Assembly Thursday – after the United States torpedoed its adoption by consensus.
'The last minute moves means that the draft declaration will have to face a vote in the GA – most likely next month, observers said.
'Dozens of presidents, prime ministers and health ministers, speaking on behalf of the world’s largest blocs of both developed and developing countries, hailed the draft, saying it should be approved immediately, at the Fourth UN High Level Meeting on NCDs and Mental Health.
'But in a blustery statement, US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr charged that the UN draft went too far in recommending mesaures like taxes on unhealthy products – while not going far enough on other chronic disease related issues. The US veto means the draft must be submitted to a formal member state vote to be endorsed – since the declaration was supposed to be by consensus...'
HIFA profile: Joseph Ana is the Lead Senior Fellow/Medical Consultant at the Centre for Clinical Governance Research and Patient Safety in Calabar, Nigeria, established by HRI Global (former HRIWA). He is a member of the World Health Organisation’s Technical Advisory Group on Integrated Care in primary, emergency, operative, and critical care (TAG-IC2). As the Cross River State Commissioner for Health, he led the introduction of the Homegrown Quality Tool, the 12-Pillar Clinical Governance Programme, in Nigeria (2004-2008). For sustainability, he established the Department of Clinical Governance, Servicom & e-health in the Cross River State Ministry of Health, Nigeria. His main interest is in whole health sector and system strengthening in Lower, Low and Middle Income Countries (LLMICs). He has written six books on the 12-Pillar Clinical Governance programme, suitable for LLMICs, including the TOOLS for Implementation. He served as Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association’s Standing Committee on Clinical Governance (2012-2022), and he won the Nigeria Medical Association’s Award of Excellence on three consecutive occasions for the innovation. He served as Chairman, Quality & Performance, of the Technical Working Group for the implementation of the Nigeria Health Act 2014. He is member, National Tertiary Health Institutions Standards Committee of the Federal Ministry of Health. He is the pioneer Secretary General/Trustee-Director of the NMF (Nigerian Medical Forum) which took the BMJ to West Africa in 1995. Joseph is a member of the HIFA Steering Group and the HIFA working group on Community Health Workers. (http://www.hifa.org/support/members/joseph-0 http://www.hifa.org/people/steering-group). jneana AT yahoo.co.uk