Commonwealth Partners Meeting (i) Preventing Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs): Children and Young People

Co-hosted by the Commonwealth Secretariat, Sight & Life and Commonwealth Health Professions Alliance

Preventing Non-Communicable Diseases: Children and Young People

The prevalence of NCDs and their main risk factors (tobacco use, harmful use of alcohol, physical inactivity and an unhealthy diet) within young people are rising in almost every country, impacting with immediate and long term consequences upon health. This rise is largely a direct result of urbanisation which has fostered a rise in the key risk factors for these diseases. There is now also a realisation that malnutrition may also play a role in the development of NCDs.

Fortunately, NCDs are largely preventable since their risk factors can be modified or eliminated altogether. Addressing the growing burden of NCDs will rely largely on successful prevention efforts. It is therefore imperative that multiple sectors that have a stake in the management of the key risk factors work together to reduce the population risk of these.

The Commonwealth Secretariat, Sight & Life and Commonwealth Health Professions Alliance are well placed to highlight the challenges and opportunities in reducing or eliminating risk factors for NCDs in childhood and adolescence. As such, these organisations hosted a three hour session on Saturday 14 May 2011 to discuss important topics pertinent to the prevention of NCDs in children and young people, prior to the Commonwealth Health Ministers Meeting.

Goal: To explore methods of reducing the impact of NCDs and their risk factors in children and young people across the world.

Objectives:

I. Share effective and innovative methods in the prevention of NCDs in children and young people;
II. Explore the challenges of scaling up prevention efforts for NCDs for children and young people; and
III. Provide an opportunity for discussion and engagement on this issue between civil society, the public and private sector.

Meeting Summary

Documents

Partners Meeting (i) Speaker Profiles

Presentations:

Physical Activity Sport and the Healthy Child - Dr Bruce Kidd

Overview of healthy living for young people - nutrition tobacco use and physical activity - Christine Hancock

The link between oral health and NCD prevention for young people - Dr Hilary Cooray

Prevention of NCD: Strategies to Control Alcoholism in Youth - Prof Sundaram Arulrhaj

Global strategies for tobacco prevention - Judith Watt

Early Childhood nutrition and adult non-communicable diseases a vital link - Dr Anna Lartey

Linking Micronutrient Deficiencies of Mother and Child to Long-term Health Consequences - Jee Hyun Ra