02561nas a2200325   4500000000100000008004100001653001900042653001200061653002400073653001300097653002300110653002800133653001100161653002300172653000900195653002600204653002000230653001500250100002000265700001300285700001400298700001200312700001400324245015500338856004600493300001100539490000800550520166300558022001402221       2011                            d10aUnited Nations10aSmoking10aSedentary Lifestyle10aResearch10aPrimary Prevention10aPopulation Surveillance10aHumans10aEnvironment Design10aDiet10aCost-Benefit Analysis10aChronic Disease10aAlcoholism1 aProbst-Hensch N1 aTanner M1 aKessler C1 aBurri C1 aKünzli N00aPrevention--a cost-effective way to fight the non-communicable disease epidemic: an academic perspective of the United Nations High-level NCD Meeting.  uhttp://www.smw.ch/content/smw-2011-13266/  aw132660 v1413 a<p>The United Nations General Assembly has convened a Summit on non-communicable diseases (NCDs), an historic moment in the global combat of these disorders. Lifestyles in increasingly urban and globalised environments have led to a steep surge in NCD incidence in low and middle income countries, where two thirds of all NCD deaths occur (most importantly from cancer, cardiovascular and respiratory disease as well as diabetes). Treatment of NCDs is usually long term and expensive, thus threatening patients' and nations' budgets and putting them at high risk for poverty. The NCD Summit offers an opportunity for strengthening and shaping primary prevention, the most cost-effective instrument to fight major risk factors such as tobacco smoking, alcohol abuse, physical inactivity and unhealthy diet. From a Swiss perspective, we also emphasised the efforts for new laws on prevention and diagnosis registration, in accordance with the recommendations of the NCD summit in order to strengthen primary prevention and disease monitoring. In addition, the need for structural prevention across all policy sectors with leadership in environmental policy making to prevent NCDs as well as the need to adapt and strengthen primary health care are equally relevant for Switzerland. To compliment efforts in primary prevention, the field of NCDs requires special R&amp;D platforms for affordable NCD drugs and diagnostics for neglected population segments in both Switzerland and low and middle income countries. Switzerland has a track record in research and development against diseases of poverty on a global scale that now needs to be applied to NCDs.</p>
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