WHO / Panos / Tania Habjouqa
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Global high-level technical meeting on noncommunicable diseases in humanitarian settings: building resilient health systems, leaving no-one behind

27 – 29 February 2024
Copenhagen, Denmark

Background

The Global high-level technical meeting, hosted by the Government of the Kingdom of Denmark and co-organized by the World Health Organization and UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, took place 27–29 February 2024 in Copenhagen. 

The meeting was a closed hybrid event which brought together NCD, emergency, refugee and health systems experts from WHO/UNHCR Member States, United Nations (UN) agencies, academic bodies and international and national non-State actors, with the objective of strengthening integration of NCDs in humanitarian responses. 

The meeting served as an opportunity to move forward dialogue on how best to support Member States in delivering NCD prevention and control services as part of humanitarian responses.

 

Purpose

The purpose of the meeting was to raise global awareness of the need to consider NCDs as part of emergency preparedness and response, and to forge relationships between the NCD, humanitarian, refugee and health systems communities in advance of the UN High-level meeting on NCDs in 2025. 

 

Objectives

  1. Present WHO–UNHCR efforts to strengthen the integration of NCDs as part of emergency preparedness, humanitarian response and refugee health.
  2. Review NCD-related responses in countries during the COVID-19 pandemic and other emergencies and humanitarian crises, across WHO regions, based on a series of regional consultations held in 2022 and 2023.
  3. Convene governments, UN agencies, multilateral and bilateral agencies, international organizations, humanitarian agencies, civil society groups, people affected by NCDs and humanitarian crisis, academia, philanthropies and foundations, and the private sector as appropriate, in order to strengthen the nexus between the humanitarian response agenda and the health and development agenda based on a multistakeholder and solution‑oriented dynamic.
  4. Recommend strategic and integrated approaches to improve technical assistance to countries across preparedness, response, and recovery phases and agree on practical steps to better address NCD and the health of displaced persons in acute and protracted emergencies.
  5. To inform the report to the UN Secretary-General before the UN High-level meeting on NCDs in 2025, drawing on WHO recommendations endorsed during the 75th session of the World Health Assembly.

The conference consisted of:

  • a technical meeting segment exploring responses to NCDs in humanitarian settings;
  • a high-level segment for Heads of States and governments from Member States and heads of United Nations organizations, as well as high-level representatives from non-State actors;
  • a multistakeholder partners’ forum with members from international nongovernmental organizations, private companies and academic institutions with pivotal roles in NCDs in humanitarian settings;
  • break out groups and side events, highlighting good examples of NCD responses by Member States and international organizations.