Organizational Update

T he term noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) has entered the vocabulary of policy makers, ministries of health, some medical professionals, and health workers: it is time that it now also becomes a byword for all those working in the stroke field whether as researchers or clinicians. NCDs are a group of diseases, which by definition is noninfectious and nontransmissible (as opposed to communicable diseases). Stroke is part of the core cluster of major NCDs, which include cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, cancer, and chronic pulmonary diseases. Stroke shares risk factors with the other major NCDs, including tobacco use, unhealthy diet, and physical inactivity. Stroke also shares an important principle: these diseases are potentially preventable to a large extent, and highly cost-effective interventions are available for prevention. The recent Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study 2010 showed major shifts from communicable diseases toward NCDs from 1990 to 2010 related to the aging population, decreased children mortality, changes in cause-of-death composition , and changes in risk factor exposures. There are 16.9 million incident strokes worldwide, twice as many stroke survivors, and 5.9 million deaths from stroke. Overall stroke ranks third among causes of death and disability-adjusted life years, but it ranks first in the Asian regions that have the highest populations in the world. Eighty percent of the NCD burden occurs in low-and middle-income countries. In low-and middle-income countries, strokes occur ≈8 years earlier in life than in high-income regions. Stroke should no longer be regarded as a disease of old age, about two thirds of all prevalent strokes are seen in people <75 years. Thus, the effects of stroke and NCDs are long ranging: NCDs, such as stroke, affect not only the health sector, but also links to poverty (bidi-rectionally), economic growth, and sustainable development. Current and projected trends in development of NCDs need to be reversed rapidly and strongly by joint efforts. The United Nations (UN) political declaration on NCDs was adopted in September 2011, being the second time in the history of the UN that the General Assembly addressed a medical topic; the first time was in 2002 with the meeting on HIV/AIDS that subsequently has had a huge effect on the prevention and treatment of this disease. WHO was given the mandate of implementation and monitoring of the UN political declaration on NCDs. After intense work, that involved WHO member states, relevant UN agencies, many nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and many …