Sridhar Venkatapuram a Martin McKee a & David Stuckler b
a London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, England.
b Department of Sociology, University of Cambridge, England.
Bulletin of the World Health Organization
Online First -Published online: 3 February 2012
“…..Noncommunicable diseases pose an increasingly high burden of disease
that threatens economic and social development, yet cost-effective health
interventions exist. World leaders recognized the compelling case for action
with the declaration at the United Nations high-level meeting on
noncommunicable diseases in September 2011.1,2
Since that meeting, the World Health Organization (WHO) has been developing
a Global Monitoring Framework and the United Nations Secretary-General is
preparing to report to the 67th session of the General Assembly in September
2012 on ways to tackle noncommunicable diseases across different sectors.
This paper aims to inform these debates by reviewing the declarations that
resulted from WHO regional meetings held in preparation for last September’s
high-level meeting (Table 1). We identified four “ethical tensions” that must be
resolved. These tensions are not exhaustive or mutually exclusive but provide
a framework for debate.
Human rights approaches
‘…Effective action on noncommunicable diseases involves addressing multiple
human rights, such as the right to information to make informed choices about
diet and activity (e.g. food labels that people can understand), the right to bodily
integrity (e.g. freedom from exposure to second-hand smoke); and the right to
health (including access to essential medicines). These human rights may
conflict with corporate rights, such as the right of pharmaceutical companies to
exploit patents or express freedom of speech (through marketing)….”
Social determinants
“….Political leaders face difficult decisions about where to invest resources along
the causal chain of disease. They must care for those already ill but also tackle the
underlying causes of the diseases….”
Funding
“…Governments must balance the needs of their own citizens with their obligations
to provide aid to other countries. There is a glaring global inequality in the burden of
noncommunicable diseases and in the domestic resources available to address
them….”
Which diseases?
“….All governments must set priorities for action, such as whether to focus on
interventions for those people in most need, those who would benefit most or on
actions that would benefit the most people. The high-level meeting initially prioritized
four diseases (cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic lung diseases and diabetes)
with high mortality burdens and four risk factors (tobacco use, poor diet, harmful use
of alcohol and physical inactivity)…..”
DISPONIBLE A TEXTO OCMPLETO DESDE AQUÍ
Imagen obtenida en: WHO: Noncommunicable diseases