Government Accords High Priority To Noncommunicable Disease United Nations Interagency Taskforce Visit India

New Delhi, Dec 10, 2014:In another step reaffirming its commitment to address noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) in India, the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW), is hosting the joint mission of the United Nations Interagency Task Force (UNIATF) on prevention and control of NCDs, which is visiting India from 8-12 December 2014.The mission is in India to enhance the support of UN agencies to the Government of India to scale up the national multisectoral response to NCDs.

A high level stakeholder forum has been organized with officials of key government ministries under the chairmanship of ShriLovVerma, Secretary (HFW). MoHFW is facilitating the mission’s deliberations with different line ministers and departments.

The mission will hold consultations with key stakeholders, including civil society and the private sector during their visit to discuss the roles of various stakeholders in strengthening the multisectoral response to NCDs. It will map the ongoing bilateral and multilateral processes to support the government in its efforts to address NCDs within the context of India’s 12th Five Year Plan (2012-2017) and highlight approaches for effective coordination of national multisectoral response to NCDs.

The UNIATF mission comprises of representatives from WHO, UNDP, World Bank, UNFPA, UNICEF and other UN agencies.The UNIATF was established in July 2013 by the UN Secretary General to support UN agencies and international development partners to work together in a coordinated manner to assist national efforts to prevent and control NCDs. Due to the rising burden of NCDs in India, it is among the priority countries where UNIATF will help national efforts to respond to the NCDs problem and provide impetus to attaining national NCD targets.CCI Newswire