U.S. Stands Alone in Blocking Global NCD Declaration
NEW YORK CITY, NY — At Thursday’s United Nations High-Level Meeting on Noncommunicable Diseases, governments reached broad agreement on a political declaration, the product of months of negotiation and the fourth such declaration since 2011.
It sets the first global targets to reduce premature deaths from cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and mental health conditions. The United States, led by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., was the only country to block consensus, forcing the declaration to a General Assembly vote in the coming weeks.
“Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s objections were fabricated concerns wholly unrelated to the actual UN agreement. The text contains none of the controversies he claimed,” said Liza Barrie, Public Citizen’s campaign director, global access to medicines. “The draft reflects overwhelming global agreement on practical, evidence-based steps, from expanding access to mental health care to controlling hypertension. Noncommunicable diseases now cause three-quarters of premature deaths worldwide. For the first time, the declaration sets measurable global targets, including bringing hypertension under control for 150 million more people and extending mental health care to 150 million more by 2030.
Barrie added, “The declaration is expected to be adopted by the General Assembly. But the Trump administration’s obstruction undermines global solidarity, weakens U.S. standing, and slows momentum against the world’s leading cause of death. Kennedy has justified gutting U.S. health programs under the pretense of prioritizing chronic disease, only to sabotage global progress against them. His obstruction leaves the U.S. isolated and exposes the lie of his claim to be serious about chronic disease.”