Pledge on NCDs : Meeting the year 2012 Targets?

This post is in continuation of the previous post. The September 19, 2011 witnessed the whole world united on one front, the control of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Under the august world body, the United Nations, the countries discussed and debated on NCDs as "Deemed Development Challenge", a challenge of "Epidemic Proportions". The UN Sixth General Assembly (GA/11138) had adopted a "political declaration" during this landmark session.

But prevention and control of NCDs is no easy task, leave alone the endeavor to do it globally. All those factors that influence greater incidence of NCDs are on move risking their greater adoption by people. The people of developing world are uprooted from their cultures which had been more labor intensive, controlled nature driven food sources. Their staple diets comprised whole grains, raw vegetables. But now they consume more of refined wheat flour, polished pulses, packaged purees of tomato and garlic, refined and super-refined vegetable oils which have lost the natural health promoting ingredients.

The question is how we will counter the technology on one hand promoting innovation to produce value added food stuffs for greater profits and technology to counter NCDs. At the current times, the human endeavors are multiplying problems, and then finding solutions to further add problems, and then debating their control. The vicious circle goes on and on and getting tangled within themselves. And in this vicious circle of non-communicable diseases we are concerned with, NCDs are not separable from the communicable ones. But there is one simple solution always, awareness and education!

Therefore our focus to get NCDs under control must base on mass awareness and education. Health must assume center stage in primary and undergraduate education; however, it should relate us as a responsible partner of the sustainable development, a partner that cares for the overall ecosystem and manage climate, environment, and biological diversity in tune with development. Any forces that challenge this must be stalled?

Of course there are already many initiatives and efforts, by nations, in the area of NCDs prevention and control. Several large organizations are making sustained efforts for control of NCDs, besides several Alliances of organizations are coordinating among themselves for more productive outcome. But the challenges are formidable. Since the September 19th meet, sometime has elapsed. At this summit governments had pledged to adopt by the end on 2012 targets to combat heart disease, cancer, diabetes, lung diseases and work on reduction in consumption of tobacco, high salt, sugar, fat contents in food.

To remind those interested in prevention and control of NCDs, and to educate and motivate the public to raise their concern for effective implementation of the declaration's guidelines by their governments, and for my own records on this blog, I have reproduced through the previous posting  complete release which was issued earlier by the News & Media Division, the UN Department of Public Information.