By Katie Dain, Executive Director of the NCD Alliance

Let’s be clear: noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are on the rise. Health systems are straining at the seams, already unable to cope with the tide of people suffering from these conditions and their complications. NCDs cover a broad range of health problems: diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory diseases, and mental and neurological disorders. Cries from citizens and politicians for increased health system funding or restructuring of service delivery too often go unanswered in developed and developing nations alike. If these trends are to be reversed, we need to look at using a dual approach of micro and macro forces: empowering individuals to make good health choices, and creating environments which allow them to do so.

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