This statement was delivered by the World Heart Federation under agenda item 17.1 – WHO’s Work in Health Emergencies – at the Seventy-Eighth World Health Assembly.
Honourable Chair,
Distinguished Delegates,
People Living with Noncommunicable Diseases, particularly cardiovascular disease and diabetes, face significant challenges in emergency settings due to strained health systems and disrupted services. Shifting priorities, unsafe facilities, and increased stress, among other factors, lead to preventable NCD-related morbidity and mortality, especially in low- and middle-income countries, which bear the greatest burden of humanitarian crises.
We urge Member States to:
- Prioritize the needs of people living with NCDs in health emergencies and elevate NCDs within the global health security agenda;
- Integrate essential NCD services into emergency preparedness, response, and recovery plans;
- Strengthen primary healthcare and universal health coverage to build resilient systems that ensure continuous and equitable NCD care; and
- Adopt a WHO resolution on Strengthening the Evidence-Base for Public Health and Social Measures, to enable timely data collection and analysis to guide humanitarian action.
Thank you.
