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The President in the UN at a High-level meeting on non-communicable diseases

New York, 19.9.2011  |  press release


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The President of the Republic, Dr. Danilo Türk, attends the High-level meeting on prevention and control of non-communicable diseases where he was a speaker (photo: Stanko Gruden/STA)The President of the Republic, Dr. Danilo Türk, started a working visit in New York, where he is attending high-level meetings of the 66th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN). During the morning hours (local time) he first attended the opening and then also the plenary session of the High-level meeting on prevention and control of non-communicable diseases, where he was a speaker.

In his speech he referred to the estimation of the World Health Organization (WHO) that out of the 57 million people who died globally in 2008, as many as 36 million died of non-communicable diseases, among which cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and chronic respiratory diseases take the lead. He added that almost 80 percent of these deaths occur in developing countries. This proves that non-communicable diseases constitute one of the major threats to humankind, emphasized the President.

The President pointed out that the current high-level event is only the second meeting in the history of the UN, where heads of state and government are to discuss dramatic global health issues with numerous consequences for social and economic development. He also recalled that in the past, the international community with its broad, energetic and well coordinated global campaign challenged the spreading of HIV/AIDS, with success of these efforts being felt in most regions of the world.

The President of the Republic, Dr. Danilo Türk, attends the High-level meeting on prevention and control of non-communicable diseases where he was a speaker (photo: Stanko Gruden/STA)Equally encouraging, in the President's words, is the fact that numerous governments and health institutions around the world have already developed effective systems of preventing and curing non-communicable diseases. Moreover, the quality and accessibility of medical services as well as the capacity to develop techniques of treatment have improved, and an ever growing number of people are aware of the risk of smoking and of the importance of healthy nutrition and leading a healthy lifestyle. The President also presented Slovenia's efforts as one of the initiators of the European Partnership for Action against Cancer.

President Türk warned that prevention and cure require resources – medical, technical, financial and organizational – and that all of them are lacking in much of the developing world. Therefore the UN system should promptly develop multi-sector strategies, a system of indicators to measure progress, and mechanisms for an effective coordination of measures at the global level. The World Health Organization and the Secretary-General will have a crucial role in this process.

"Implementation of broad international agreements is always the most difficult aspect of international action. The UN should take advantage of partnerships of governments, professional organizations and civil society groups and the business sector. In the fight against cancer, such an alliance and the basic concepts of the necessary global strategies are already taking shape. They include a clear identification of objectives and the major instruments for their achievement in the areas of leadership, prevention, public awareness and education, early detection and treatment and – last but not least – research," concluded the President.
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