Efforts to strengthen the global response to noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and mental health may be derailed as powerful lobbying from industries such as tobacco, alcohol, junk food, and fossil fuels threatens to weaken a key United Nations political document, civil society groups have warned.
The final draft of the United Nations Political Declaration on Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health, scheduled for adoption at the fourth UN High-Level Meeting (HLM4) on NCDs and Mental Health on September 25 at the UN General Assembly in New York, has drawn sharp criticism for allegedly reflecting the influence of corporate interests at the expense of public health.
“It looks like health-harming industry fingerprints are all over this,” said Alison Cox, Director of Policy and Advocacy at the NCD Alliance. “At a time of fiscal pressures, shrinking global health funding, and increased emphasis on domestic resource mobilisation, health taxes are a golden opportunity to both generate revenue and reduce the burden of NCDs and associated healthcare costs. Yet as it stands, the Declaration’s text contains weaker language around taxes and lets industry off the hook, prioritising profits over public health. Make no mistake, the Declaration in its current form is a backslide.”
Noncommunicable diseases—such as cardiovascular conditions, diabetes, cancer, and chronic respiratory illnesses—are responsible for seven of the top ten causes of death globally, killing 43 million people annually and accounting for 75 per cent of all deaths worldwide.
Against this backdrop, stakeholders say the Declaration must reaffirm commitments to proven, cost-effective prevention measures, including fiscal tools like taxation on unhealthy products. However, the NCD Alliance contends that the language of the current draft has been systematically weakened.
“Active commitments to ‘implement’ and ‘enact’ have been replaced with the far more passive ‘consider’ and ‘encourage,’” the Alliance noted in a statement on Friday. “The ambition of targets has been flattened, and the structure of the original Zero Draft—which outlined three fast-track targets and five tracer targets—has been diluted. Each of the tracer targets has been significantly weakened at this late stage.”
The statement also raised alarm over the near-exclusion of civil society from the document, noting that only a single reference to civil society exists in the entire Declaration, while the role of people living with NCDs is given minimal attention.
“History has taught us that ignoring the integral role of civil society, communities, and people living with diseases weakens any meaningful public health response,” Cox stressed. “NCDs are no exception.”
The NCD Alliance is now urging member states to take a stand in the final week of negotiations and resist any last-minute attempts to dilute the Declaration further.
“The mandate for HLM4 was clear: deliver a concise, action-oriented Declaration that builds on previous commitments, mobilises political will, and outlines measurable targets. The current draft falls significantly short,” the group said.
As the countdown to the September 25 meeting continues, all eyes are on governments to see whether they will rise above corporate influence and reaffirm a global commitment to saving millions of lives through meaningful action on NCDs and mental health.