2025/04/07 The Fourth UN High-level Meeting on Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) to Shape a Transformative Global

The Fourth High-level Meeting of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly on the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) will be convened in 2025, marking a pivotal moment for global health governance. As a decennial event, this meeting offers a rare and critical opportunity for world leaders, policymakers, and global health stakeholders to unite in adopting a forward-looking, ambitious, and actionable political declaration that will shape the trajectory of NCD prevention and control efforts towards 2030 and beyond to 2050.
 
At the midpoint to the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), progress in reducing premature mortality from NCDs through prevention, treatment, and the promotion of mental health remains significantly off track. The persisting underinvestment in health services has exacerbated disparities in access to care, creating an urgent need for decisive action. Without renewed commitments and strategic interventions, the burden of NCDs will continue to rise, placing immense strain on health systems, economies, and communities worldwide. The Fourth High-level Meeting seeks to mobilize global and national efforts to reverse this trend through a comprehensive, multisectoral, and equity-driven approach.
 
A core outcome of the meeting will be the adoption of a new political declaration, underpinned by scientific evidence and grounded in human rights. This declaration will serve as a guiding framework to accelerate progress in NCD prevention and control, ensuring that health systems are resilient, responsive, and inclusive. Key areas of focus include strengthening primary healthcare services, integrating mental health support within NCD care strategies, expanding access to essential medicines and health technologies, and addressing the broader social, economic, commercial, and environmental determinants of health. Additionally, the declaration will reaffirm commitments to reducing air pollution and advancing the "5 by 5" agenda, which emphasizes targeted actions on five major risk factors—tobacco use, harmful use of alcohol, unhealthy diets, physical inactivity, and air pollution—and five critical disease areas—cardiovascular diseases, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases, diabetes, and mental health conditions.
 
Leading up to the meeting, WHO and its partners will convene a series of high-level global and technical consultations, expert discussions, and preparatory meetings. These engagements will identify key gaps, explore innovative solutions, and generate technical inputs to inform negotiations among Member States. The insights gained will also contribute to the WHO Director-General’s report to the World Health Assembly in 2025, which will outline strategic recommendations for strengthening global NCD policies and interventions.
 
Recognizing the need for broad and inclusive participation, WHO has launched a web-based consultation process to solicit inputs from Member States, UN organizations, civil society, academia, the private sector, and individuals with lived experiences of NCDs and mental health conditions. This participatory approach underscores the importance of a whole-of-government and whole-of-society response to addressing the growing burden of NCDs, ensuring that policies and programs are informed by diverse perspectives and real-world challenges.
 
As the international community prepares for the Fourth UN High-level Meeting on NCDs, all stakeholders are urged to engage actively in shaping this transformative agenda. The meeting represents a critical juncture in the global health landscape—one that holds the potential to drive meaningful and lasting change, ensuring healthier and more equitable futures for generations to come.
 
https://www.who.int/teams/noncommunicable-diseases/on-the-road-to-2025