‘Stepping up the Pace for NCDs: Making 2018 count’ Theme for the second Global NCD Forum 2017

Friends of Cancer Patients (FoCP), a UAE -based non-profit organisation dedicated to supporting cancer patients and their families, has announced the theme for the forthcoming Global NCD Forum, an initiative aimed at combating the increasing prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) across the globe.

Taking place at an exclusive NCD Alliance dinner during the World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, the title of this year’s forum, which will be held in Sharjah from 9-11 December 2017, was revealed to be ‘Stepping up the Pace for NCDs: Making 2018 Count.’ Sharjah is anticipating mass-participation of approximately more than 300 representatives from leading international health organisations, health experts and specialists, and representatives from local and regional NCD organisations at the event, which follows the highly successful 2015 previous forum.

The announcement was made in the presence of some of the most important figures in the fight against NCDs, including HRH Princess Dina Mired of Jordan, Director General of King Hussein Cancer Foundation; Dr. Jorge Basso, Minister of Health of Uruguay; José Luis Castro, Executive Director of the International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease and President NCD Alliance, Sir George Alleyne, Director Emeritus, PAHO, NCD Alliance Expert Advisory Group, and Dr. Oleg Chestnov, Assistant Director General for NCDs and Mental Health, World Health Organisation.

HE Sawsan Jafar, Chairperson of the FoCP Board of Directors, said: “The theme of the 2017 Global NCD Alliance Forum shows not only how much progress has been made on a global scale, but also how so many dedicated individuals are willing to strengthen their resolve even further. This year’s timely Forum will provide an important opportunity to unite and mobilize the NCD community ahead of the 2018 UN High Level Meeting, where countries worldwide will be reporting on their progress in preventing and controlling NCDs. The 2017 Forum will facilitate the development of new strategies for this important global milestone, and will strengthen partnerships and alliances. All this would not have been possible without the support and patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Jawaher bint Mohammed Al Qasimi, Wife of the Ruler of Sharjah, Royal Patron of Friends of Cancer Patients and Patron of the Global NCD Alliance Forum who is working tirelessly on behalf of NCD sufferers across the United Arab Emirates and internationally in her roles as International Ambassador of the World Cancer Declaration on behalf of  the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), and also as International Ambassador for Childhood Cancer for UICC.”

HE Jafar highlighted the commitment of Her Highness Sheikha Jawaher to fighting NCDs on a global level including the opening of the Sharjah Laboratory at the Francis Crick Institute in London – Europe’s largest biomedical research center – with the new facility inaugurated earlier last month (April 2017).

To strengthen national and regional action, the NCD Alliance partnered with Friends of Cancer Patients (FoCP) to hold the first ever Global NCD Alliance Forum in November 2015 in Sharjah .The second Global NCD Alliance Forum takes place against the backdrop of an increase in the frequency and importance of NCDs on health and development agendas throughout the region and across the world, as a result of global campaigns and initiatives to raise the profiles of research, development, prevention and treatment of the array of conditions it covers.

The inaugural 2015 forum resulted in the landmark call to action, the ‘Sharjah Declaration on NCDs: Civil Society United Towards 2030’, which sets out a commitment to support the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It issues recommendations for governments, the UN system, the business community, and national and international media to accelerate action on NCDs.

By following the ‘2011 UN Political Declaration on NCD Prevention and Control, the 2025 global NCD targets, the WHO Global NCD Action Plan 2013-2020 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Sharjah has set national responsibilities based on mutually agreed ambitions.