N o n - c ommu n i c a b l e d i s e a s e s a n d d i s a b i l i t i e s of children and adolescents are fully reflected and highlighted. It is clear that children and youth are the future of our world and the key to sustainable development. As member states begin the process of finalising the SDGs and targets, it is critical that the global community voices the importance that NCDs play in sustainable development and the life-course approach to reducing NCDs globally. Goals and targets must be inclusive of the child and adolescent populations, and allow for country-level policy, planning and accountability. Young people are key to this discussion and ensuring that they have access to information to make better lifestyle choices, affordable treatment for NCDs and community support for progressing through adolescence into adulthood to live a healthy life is critical. Providing a healthy life course for all children and adolescents will improve the state of the world’s health. Highlighting and encouraging the six themes below can support this vision: • Member states should develop and finalise NCD plans that include targets for access to and delivery of prevention and treatment services for children and young people, and should advocate for inclusion of outcomes relevant to young people in the WHO’s monitoring of country-level NCD plans • Member states should advocate for health indicators in the SDGs to include WHO-monitored NCD surveillance data that specifically includes children and adolescents. Categorical, global and age-aggregated data is not sufficient for monitoring and reporting the impact of policy choices on NCD prevention and treatment for children and adolescents • Countries should include a commitment to clinical and community preventive services as part of routine health care system development and strengthening. Programmes to promote and provide support for healthy eating habits, tobacco and second-hand smoke prevention and cessation, injury prevention, mental health promotion and safe sexual practices can and should be integrated into routine health care delivery for adolescents • Nations must understand and act upon the need for access to care for children and young people living with cancer, heart disease, diabetes, respiratory diseases and other NCDs. Developing systems, adequate personnel and resources for providing UHC is important in providing equitable access to families and individuals needing treatment and living with NCDs • Voices of families and young people should be included in planning health systems in order to improve systems’ ability to meet population needs. Public–private partnerships with government, civil society organisations and professional clinicians’ organisations can support the inclusion of family voices • Donor country aid agencies supporting categorical and integrated services in LMICs should support adequate funding towards surveillance, prevention and care for children and youth with NCDs Endnotes 1 The right to health is contained in Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; Article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child; Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; Article 5 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination; Article 25 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; Articles 12 and 14 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women; and Article XI of the American Declaration on Rights and Duties of Man. It also follows on from discussions in the lead up to the Political Declaration of the High-level Meeting of the General Assembly on the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases and the Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS: Intensifying Our Efforts to Eliminate HIV and AIDS. 2 United Nations General Assembly: Human Rights Council, ‘Rights of the Child’, Resolution A/HRC/19/2, paragraph 37; United Nations General Assembly, 67th session, Agenda Item 123, ‘Global health and foreign policy’, 6 December 2012. References CESCR (Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights), 2000. General Comment No. 14 ‘The Right to Health’ pdf United Nations. Available at: www.un.org/documents/ecosoc/docs/ 2001/e2001-22.pdf Accessed 15 April 2015. Gupta, S., Rivera-Luna, R., Ribeiro, R. C. and Howard, S. C., 2014. ‘Pediatric oncology as the next global child health priority: The need for national childhood cancer strategies in low- and middleincome countries’. PLOS Medicine, 11 (6), e1001656. Marquez, P. V. and Farrington, J. L., 2013. The Challenge of Non- Communicable Diseases and Road Traffic Injuries in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Overview. Washington, DC: World Bank. NCD Child, 2013. Child Activity Report 2013 – Putting Children and Adolescents on the Global Non-Communicable Disease Agenda pdf NCD Child. Available at: www.ncdchild.org/ News/NCD-Child-Activity-Report-2013-Putting-Children-and- Adolescents-on-the-Global-Non-Communicable-Disease-Agenda Accessed 15 April 2015. WHO (World Health Organization), 2002. The World Health Report 2002: Reducing Risks, Promoting Healthy Life. Geneva: WHO. WHO (World Health Organization), 2012. Positioning Health in the Post-2015 Development Agenda webpage WHO. Available at: www.who.int/topics/millennium_development_goals/post 2015/en/ Accessed 15 April 2015. 98 Commonwealth Health Partnerships 2015 NCD CHILD is a global alliance of organisations focused on non-communicable diseases in children and adolescents. The main goals of NCD Child are to advocate for the inclusion of children and youth, and the treatment and prevention of NCDs, on the global health agenda, and to promote inclusion of youth and family voices in global and country planning for NCDs.
Commonwealth Health Partnerships 2015
To see the actual publication please follow the link above