Sharjah: The second Global Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) Alliance Forum will be taking place in Sharjah in December, it was announced.
Friends of Cancer Patients (FoCP), a UAE-based non-profit organisation dedicated to supporting cancer patients and their families, said the forum will be held under the theme ‘Stepping up the pace for NCDs: Making 2018 count’ and will have participation of more than 300 representatives from leading international health organisations, health experts and specialists, and representatives from local and regional NCD organisations
The forum, an initiative aimed at combating the increasing prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) across the globe, will take place on December 9-11.
Sawsan Jafar, chairperson of the FoCP Board of Directors, said the theme of the 2017 Global NCD Alliance Forum shows not only how much progress has been made on a global scale, but also how so many dedicated individuals are willing to strengthen their resolve even further.
“This year’s timely forum will provide an important opportunity to unite and mobilise the NCD community ahead of the 2018 UN High Level Meeting, where countries worldwide will be reporting on their progress in preventing and controlling NCDs. The 2017 forum will facilitate the development of new strategies for this important global milestone, and will strengthen partnerships and alliances,” she said.
Jafar highlighted the commitment of Shaikha Jawaher Bint Mohammad Al Qasimi, wife of His Highness Dr Shaikh Sultan Bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, Royal Patron of Friends of Cancer Patients and Patron of the Global NCD Alliance Forum, to fighting NCDs on a global level. She cited the opening of the Sharjah Laboratory at the Francis Crick Institute in London — Europe’s largest biomedical research centre — last month as an example.
To strengthen national and regional action, the NCD Alliance partnered with FoCP to hold the first-ever Global NCD Alliance Forum in November 2015 in Sharjah.
The second Global NCD Alliance Forum takes place against the backdrop of an increase in the frequency and importance of NCDs on health and development agendas throughout the region and across the world, as a result of global campaigns and initiatives to raise the profiles of research, development, prevention and treatment of the array of conditions it covers.
