For the 152nd Session of the WHO Executive Board meeting, ESMO submitted an official statement on the agenda item ‘Political declaration of the third high-level meeting of the General Assembly on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases, and mental health’.
ESMO welcomed the WHO’s update of Appendix 3 of the WHO Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases 2013-2030 as outlined in the WHO Director-General’s Report for this agenda item.
Appendix 3 represents the list of policy options and cost-effective interventions, commonly known as WHO ‘Best Buys’, health services that Member States should prioritize in order to prevent and control NCDs, which include cancer.
With cancer as a leading cause of death worldwide, ESMO urged governments to include the preventative interventions on the lifestyle risk factors of tobacco use, harmful use of alcohol, unhealthy diet, and physical inactivity, as well as the 14 cancer-specific interventions from Appendix 3, into national universal health coverage plans.
ESMO is proud that its guidelines and expertise were able to support WHO in defining the cancer interventions of Appendix 3, which can in turn assist countries in defining their own national NCD interventions.