This issue brief provides policy makers with information on how UNDP is responding to the challenge of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The brief was developed as part of a broader set of UN agency briefs on NCDs, for the WHO-led UN Inter-Agency Task Force on the Prevention and Control of NCDs.

NCDs, such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory disease, are a major source of preventable illness, disability and mortality worldwide. NCDs place a significant burden on health systems, presenting a challenge to universal health coverage and other development aims. The Sustainable Development Goals include a specific target (3.4) to reduce premature mortality from NCDs. Shared gains across the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development are possible given the relationship between NCDs and poverty and inequality reduction, economic growth, climate action and financing for development.

In line with the ‘Global Action Plan for Healthy Lives and Well-Being for All’, UNDP, in cooperation with WHO, the Secretariat of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), the broader UN Inter-Agency Task Force on NCDs and other partners, supports governments to implement or strengthen whole-of-government NCD responses. UNDP’s work on NCDs promotes effective and inclusive governance for health, and aligns with its ‘Strategic Plan 2018-2021’ and HIV, Health and Development Strategy 2016-2021: Connecting the Dots, which recognize the relationship between health, poverty eradication and other development aims.