Details announced for second Global NCD Alliance Forum

The second Global NCD Alliance Forum will be held in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Dec. 9-11, according to a recent NCD Alliance announcement.

The announcement was made at a well-attended dinner that was hosted as a secondary event to the 71st UN General Assembly in New York, titled “Looking Ahead to 2018: Continued Momentum on NCDs to Drive Progress.”

Jawaher Al Qasimi, wife of the ruler of Sharjah and founder and patron of Friends of Cancer Patients (FoCP), will oversee the event. The NCD Alliance and Friends of Cancer Patients in Sharjah will co-host the event.

The inaugural Global NCD Alliance Forum was held in November 2015 in Sharjah, bringing together NCD civil society from all over the globe, raising awareness and knowledge, as well as advocacy skills, birthing network connections and recognizing the landmark Sharjah Declaration on NCDs. The Sharjah government recognizes the importance of this health and development issue and is dedicated to bringing that knowledge to the forefront for people of the region.

“Non-communicable diseases -- such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer and chronic respiratory diseases -- are responsible for 68 percent of deaths globally,” Ameera Binkaram, president of the board of directors, Friends of Cancer Patients, said. “They caused enormous economic challenges for people, their families and societies, and undermine economic productivity of countries.”

The 2015 Forum assembled NCD civil society at an essential point in time, just two months after world leaders took on the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

“The timing of the next forum will be equally important,” Johana Ralston, CEO of World Heart Federation and vice chair of the NCD Alliance, said. “The forum will provide an opportunity to mobilize the NCD community ahead of the 2018 UN High Level review on NCDs. We will unite around priorities for this next important global milestone, and strategize to ensure we achieve meaningful outcomes for ND prevention and control.”