All eyes in the NCD community are on the 2018 High-Level Meeting on NCDs, on 27 September at UN Headquarters in New York. But what will happen the day after?

To discuss the future for the NCD movement, and celebrate progress to date, NCDA has organized a side-event at this year’s UN General Assembly - No Turning Back: Charting opportunities to invigorate and intensify the NCD response. The event will take place on 26 September, the day before the HLM.

We know that there is no going back, thanks to the unstoppable global movement to reduce preventable stigma, suffering and death due to NCDs. The 2018 UN HLM on NCDs is the first time governments will review their commitments on NCDs in the Sustainable Development Goal era. This UN HLM is an opportunity to say Enough to inaction, and harness the wave started by civil society to turn the tide on NCDs.

Objectives of No Turning Back are:

• Reflect on the outcomes of the 2018 HLM and discuss what comes next;
• Highlight government case studies of successful NCD prevention, control and treatment interventions to serve as examples of how countries can accelerate the NCD response;
• Continue the momentum of the UN High-Level Meetings on Tuberculosis and NCDs ahead of the 2019 UN High-Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage;
• Ensure people are at the centre of the NCD response, with people living with and at risk of NCDs meaningfully involved throughout the planning, development, implementation and follow up cycle.

Speakers will include:

• Dr Svetlana Axelrod, Assistant Director-General, Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health, WHO
• Ms Zoleka Mandela, Founder, Zoleka Mandela Foundation,
• H.E. Aaron Motsoaledi, Minister of Health, South Africa (tbc)
• H.E. Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Bostic, Minister of Health and Wellness, Barbados (tbc)
• Ms Tara Lisa Persaud, Our Views, Our Voices Advisory Committee
• Ms Katie Dain, CEO, NCD Alliance

Learn more about the High-Level Meeting