He noted that industry is already committed to reformulating products, to changing food and beverage marketing to children, and to promoting greater physical activity.
Ann Keeling
In 2012, the UN is slated to address the issues of targets and indicators, as well as establish a postsummit partnership to drive implementation and ensure accountability. There is still a chance that the "25% by 2025" NCD mortality reduction goal and other targets might be reinserted, NCD Alliance CEO Ann Keeling said in an interview.
The Alliance, the main lobbying group that had first initiated the call for the UN high-level meeting, will be urging governments and the UN system to agree to strong outcomes on those issues. "If the outcomes are strong, we will forgive governments for not agreeing to those at the summit," Ms. Keeling said.
The 2-day, high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly was not aimed just at the developing world, although that was a major focus.
Indeed, heads of state from more than 130 member states – including low-, middle- and high-income nations – were each allotted 3 minutes to speak about their own nations’ experiences with NCDs and their national efforts taken to combat them.
The United States, where NCDs account for 7 of 10 deaths, is committed to reducing NCDs, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in her 3-minute address. "For the United States’ part, under President Obama the United States has made taking on chronic disease a major focus."
Among the U.S. initiatives are the recently launched Million Hearts campaign (http://millionhearts.hhs.gov), a public-private sector initiative that aims to prevent 1 million heart attacks and strokes in 5 years by improving aspirin use, blood pressure management, cholesterol control, and smoking prevention. She also pointed to First Lady Michelle Obama’s ongoing efforts in reducing childhood obesity, and the Clinton Global Initiative Commitment, a public-private partnership to support tobacco-cessation efforts using mobile phone technologies.