Olavarría: Tobacco Free City, a city-run tobacco advocacy, education, and support program, was presented with the globally-recognized Louise Lown Heart Hero Award from ProCor. Olavarría, a city of 120,000 people 350km south of Buenos Aires, faces an uphill battle in its fight against tobacco: Argentina has the second highest smoking prevalence in all of Central and South America. According to local health data, one-third of adults in Olavarría use tobacco and almost half of the mortality rate is attributed to chronic diseases such as hypertension, stroke, and cancer.

A major donation to the NCD Alliance in the lead-up to the United Nations Summit on Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) was announced today in the form of a USD$1 million grant by the Medtronic Foundation. The financial commitment was announced at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) in New York as part of an overall strategic effort to reduce the burden of NCDs.

The final Declaration of the annual United Nations conference for NGOs recognises noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) as one of the significant health challenges facing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The Declaration from the Conference, agreed by 1,600 participants representing over 350 NGOs from more than 70 countries, also called on governments to “respect and implement” international health agreements such as the FCTC.