• Photo galleries
• News stories
• Social media
• Opinions and positions
  • Speeches
    • 2013
      • “Reducing vulnerability, improving capacities and building resilience of the communities”
      • 66th World Health Assembly: Poliomyelitis: intensification of the global eradication initiative
      • 66th World Health Assembly: Strengthening national health emergency and disaster management capacities and the resilience of health systems (resolution WHA64.10)
      • 66th World Health Assembly: Drinking-water, sanitation and health (resolution WHA64.24)
      • 66th World Health Assembly: IFRC's plenary statement, agenda item 4: General discussion
      • 66th World Health Assembly: Committee A - Agenda item 13.1 and 13.2: Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs)
      • Global Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction 2013 - official statement from Bekele Geleta
      • Global Vaccine Summit, Abu Dhabi 24-26 April 2013
      • Humanitarian Situation in the Mediterranean
      • The protection of livelihoods must be a core principle of responding to drought
      • "The protection of livelihoods must be a core principle of responding to drought”
      • Calling for a convention to eliminate nuclear weapons
      • The humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons - Ensuring nuclear weapons are eliminated and never used again
      • Addressing and preventing violence against women and girls in natural disasters
      • Addressing regulatory barriers to shelter for equitable assistance to the needed population
      • Restoring Family Links for Migrants
    • 2012
    • 2011
    • 2010
    • 2009
    • 2008
    • 2007
    • 2006
    • 2005
    • 2004
    • 2003
  • Opinion pieces
• IFRC in the news
• Meetings and events
• Image library
• Video Newsroom
• Press releases
• Press Contacts

Ladies and gentlemen, Distinguished guests,

Thank you for the opportunity to deliver this statement on behalf of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

We at the IFRC strongly believe that including Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) in our health programmes is consistent with our Strategy 2020 to enable healthy and safe living. We have developed our Framework for NCDs Prevention and Control. The framework focuses on prevention, innovation & research, monitoring & evaluation, partnership and advocacy. 

Ladies and gentleman, prevention has to start at the community level, with people being better informed and better equipped to take care of their own health. And this is precisely where our National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies can play a critical role in contributing to this global effort. In their auxiliary role to governments, National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies could work hand in hand with national authorities and other actors to provide quality programmes and services. 

In consultation with the Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies and in partnership with IFPMA, IFRC is leading the process to develop harmonized evidence-based traditional and innovative tools for healthy life style to address NCDs, those tools will be adapted by National Societies based on their context at the community level. Several initiatives have started already in the field and we are looking forward to scaling-up our work in this area.

IFRC commits to supporting Member States and WHO in the global, regional and national actions for NCDs prevention and control. We call on Member States to: 

• Balance between care and prevention and ensure prevention approaches are in the centre of any plan.
• Put NCDs at the heart of development agenda and ensure that Universal Health Coverage and NCDs are included in the post-2015 Development agenda.

Tackling NCDs  requires multi-stakeholders solutions. No one single player from the public or private sector working in silo can be effective against  NCDs . We need to dialogue, we need to address some of the fundamental issues – we have a duty to move solutions to NCDs forward and put on the table what is needed to make these solutions work.

Thank you.