Noncommunicable Diseases

Health in all public policies for the prevention and control of NCDs

WHO/Patrick Brown

Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are responsible for three out of every four deaths and significant lost productivity from premature mortality. NCDs are preventable and are targeted under SDGs and the national plan. WHO brings in international partners and technical expertise to drive NCDs multisectoral policy and action in Thailand

Focus areas

Agenda based: major NCDs risk factors including tobacco, alcohol, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, pollution and mental health
Priority issues are tobacco consumption, sodium consumption, cardiovascular diseases, hypertension and obesity
Area mechanism: district/ sub-district, provincial and regional health boards
Target population: working and aged persons for healthy active ageing

Expected outcomes

Through institutionalized and strengthened national and local multisectoral mechanisms, achieve the following:

Implement unfinished United Nations Interagency Task Force 2018 recommendations;
Improve NCDs response implementation as indicated by the nine global NCDs targets and NCDs progress monitoring report, particularly on the indicators that Thailand has yet to fully achieve in the 2020 report;
Progress towards Thailand achieving the global NCDs targets for 2025 and the SDGs 2030 target on NCDs

Impact statistics

NCDs such as heart disease and stroke, cancer, diabetes and chronic lung diseases are the predominant killers in Thailand causing an estimated 354,000 deaths each year (or 71% of all deaths). Moreover, NCDs are a huge economic burden costing the Thai society an estimated THB 280 billion in 2013. Behavioral risk factors for NCDs (tobacco use, insufficient physical activity, harmful use of alcohol and unhealthy diet) and metabolic risk factors (raised blood pressure, overweight/obesity, raised cholesterol and raised blood sugar) are highly prevalent in the Thai population.

Objectives

To facilitate multisectoral mechanisms for healthy public policy development
To mobilize international networks through a shared agenda on NCDs
To advocate for evidence-based policies including media advocacy
To generate a health and economic M&E framework for NCDs and generate documentation for partners’ learning and shared expectations
To leverage the political attention and investment in health during the pandemic to advocate for NCDs

SDGs

3.4: By 2030, reduce by one third premature mortality from NCDs through prevention and treatment and promote mental health and well- being

3.a Strengthen the implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in all countries, as appropriate

Activities

Multimedia

WHO Thailand statement on Electronic-cigarettes as of 20 October 2021

National NCDs Prevention and Control Plan, 2017-2021

NCDs CCS Proposal, 2017-2021

Stakeholder Networks

Hypertension care in Thailand: best practices and challenges, 2019

English pdf (with key messages in Thai)