Finance, data and technology initiatives for noncommunicable disease control

Initiatives on finance, data and technology could provide new opportunities for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases because they offer resources, insights from data and new monitoring means. The World Health Organization’s (WHO) independent high-level commission on noncommunicable diseases discusses the potential of these initiatives in the report Time to deliver, and suggests incorporating them in the commission’s future working agenda.1 Potential opportunities and future applications from innovative financing and public–private partnerships, data and digitalization for health have political appeal. However, the public value and relevance of these new opportunities for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases require further scrutiny to ensure equity in access and distribution of resources as well as long-term financial sustainability of health systems. Here I discuss why we should also focus on analysing the risks of finance, data and technology initiatives. Such analysis requires looking into the implications of these initiatives on national policies and determining how they relate to the global norms and policy measures on control of noncommunicable diseases.