Creating a World Where Concern for NCDs Was Paramount

This report documents and analyzes the results of a 180 minute futures workshop on the futures of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in 2031 that took place on Thursday, 25th November 2021.

Prince Mahidol Award Conference (PMAC) was launched in 2007 as a platform to bring together leading public health leaders and stakeholders worldwide to discuss high-priority global health issues, summarize findings, and propose concrete solutions and recommendations. The conference participants include ministers, senior government officials, intergovernmental organizations, international development partners, global health initiatives, health policy, and health systems researchers and advocators, civil society organizations, and high-level stakeholders from developing and developed countries.

The rise in non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in all countries, regardless of income, has reached the proportions of a pandemic. WHO reports that 71% of all deaths result from NCDs and the suicide rate of 10.5 per 100 000 population. The vectors of NCDs concern social and commercial determinants of health. These include car-dominated cities, unwalkable neighborhoods, marketing and consumption of fast foods, and weak social ties. While NCDs have been called "lifestyle" diseases, putting the onus for change on individuals, they have deep roots in unhealthy systems. Thus, reducing their impact will require system change.

In PMAC 2019, we addressed NCDs as a theme in "The Political Economy of NCDs". This conference suggested various recommendations to tackle NCDs, such as encouraging a paradigm shift beyond health sectors and adopting multi-stakeholder and multisectoral coordination mechanisms to ensure the whole society approach. Moreover, in this pandemic era, 2 NCDs and COVID-19 are the deadly combinations as a syndemic that worsen socioeconomic inequality. Evidence shows that NCDs are common health problems in the ageing population around the world, which could have been prevented with effective interventions at earlier stages in life. Thus, there is a need to develop strategies to prepare the national responses toward active ageing society through a life course approach.

To read more, click the button below.