NCD Alliance is pleased to partner on a 5-year collaboration between academia and civil society in the UK and Australia to advance understanding of the commercial determinants of health and health inequalities relating to tobacco, alcohol and unhealthy food, and their implications for policy.

The UK Prevention Research Partnership (UKPRP) is investing £25 million into understanding and influencing social, economic and environmental factors that affect health. SPECTRUM (Shaping Public hEalth poliCies to Reduce ineqUalities and harM), is one of the successful interdisciplinary research consortia that will look at challenges to preventing people from becoming ill (primary prevention), to generate and implement new ideas that can deliver change at a population-level.

"We are delighted the NCD Alliance will be a partner in the new SPECTRUM Consortium. Although SPECTRUM's focus is reducing NCDs in the UK through addressing the commercial determinants of health, the main drivers of preventable risk factors including smoking, alcohol, overweight and obesity are international in their reach. Driven by complex systems of production, pricing, promotion and availability, it is only by working internationally that SPECTRUM's research will have the greatest impact.

With NCD Alliance among SPECTRUM’s partners, we can ensure that our research is relevant to a wider range of audiences and stakeholders and we look forward to commencing our work.”

Professor Linda Bauld, University of Edinburgh

With much of the suffering and death from NCDs preventable or able to be delayed, and progress stalled on reducing the toll of NCDs on lives, health systems and economies, NCD Alliance is committed to ensuring comprehensive uptake of effective measures to tackle major modifiable risk factors of NCDs. The NCD Alliance’s partnering on SPECTRUM accentuates this commitment.

"We repeatedly hear from member states and civil society that industries and commercial activities they undertake are driving NCD risk factors, particularly when it comes to alcohol, tobacco and ultra-processed food and drink, and that these are formidable barriers to governments actually introducing measures that we know will save and improve lives."

“SPECTRUM has enormous potential to not only improve understanding of upstream inhibitors and enablers of progress in NCD prevention at national level, but the Consortium’s work will have far-reaching implications for enhancing international efforts to reduce NCDs through effective policy, and we are pleased to be SPECTRUM partners.”

Katie Dain, CEO of NCD Alliance

Read the UK Centre for Tobacco & Alcohol Studies' announcement here

Read the UK Medical Research Council's UKPRP announcement here