The Global Week for Action on NCDs 2023 (14-21 September) saw the participation of millions of people from the NCD community, who united to get one message across loud and clear: The Moment for Caring is Now. This year’s Global Week for Action coincided with the UN High-Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage (UHC), and voices reached leaders at the highest levels of decision‑making.

“This year has demonstrated that people are ready for change. More people than ever are taking action and demanding equality, demanding that governments put population and planetary health first - what we need now is to see our leaders respond with bold action,” said Katie Dain, CEO of the NCD Alliance.

Media buzz: The Global Week in numbers

This year’s Global Week for Action on NCDs was high-profile! We saw plenty of activity on social media and hundreds of engagement activities from NCDA members and partners.

  • Kick-off event with 583 participants
  • 2,044,521 post views on social media
  • 1,218,308 video views with 419,098 minutes watched
  • 1,089 new followers on social media (audience growth)
  • 270+ Engagement activities from NCDA members, partners and key stakeholders
  • 330+ media mentions
     

GW4A23 in numbers

High-level participation to start the week

The week kicked off with a gathering held alongside the UN General Assembly, ahead of the health-related High-Level Meetings on UHC, pandemic preparedness, and tuberculosis. It was attended by nearly 600 participants, representing civil society, ministries of health, academia, and private sector. Towards Achieving Universal Health Coverage: Multistakeholder Gathering on Tackling Noncommunicable Diseases was hosted by the World Health Organization, the World Diabetes Foundation and the NCD Alliance. It explored cross-cutting actions to strengthen the prevention and control of NCDs and mental health issues, and featured the launch of the WHO Global Mapping Report on Multisectoral Actions to Strengthen the Prevention and Control of NCDs and Mental Health.

More Global NCD Champions and a fuller Map of Impact

2023 saw the support of 10 Global Champions, including six Heads of State and Government from Ghana, Timor-Leste, Mauritius, Barbados, Tanzania and St. Kitts; WHO Director-General Dr Tedros; and WHO Global Ambassador for NCDs, Mr Michael Bloomberg. The Map of Impact featured 68 activities, ranging from a Community Conversation with people living with NCDs and a press meeting organized by the Rwanda NCD Alliance, to an open letter by the Bangladesh NCD Forum to the country’s prime minister, and many more.

Evidence driving action towards UHC

The Global Week provided the opportunity to launch two important publications. First, the NCD Alliance’s report Spending Wisely: Exploring the economic and societal benefits of integrating HIV/AIDS and NCDs service delivery, assessing 28 HIV-NCD programs in 16 countries in Africa and Asia. It shows that integrated programmes are a cost-effective way to deliver better health care, improving access for those who need it most. And second, the first issue of Everybody’s Business: A series of bold actions to close the NCD funding gap. This issue spotlights the fiscal measures being implemented by the Philippines government to help fund the country’s universal health coverage.

2024 is coming up soon!

Thanks to you and millions from the NCD community, we have managed to make this our biggest Global Week for Action yet. Together we were able to tell our world leaders that the Moment for Caring is Now.

The Global Week for Action on NCDs returns next year. We’ll be announcing the dates theme for that campaign soon, so watch this space. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter or follow us on social media to hear more.