Global response to non-communicable disease

Despite causing 63% of global deaths, with 80% occurring in the developing world,1 non-communicable diseases did not feature in the millennium development goals and account for less than 3% of global health aid.2 The huge global burden from non-communicable diseases is expected to increase substantially over the next few years, and urgent action is needed (box 1).1 3 In September the United Nations will hold a high level summit on non-communicable diseases. The only previous UN meeting on health, in 2001, led to the Global Fund to Fight AIDs, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, which has saved millions of lives. We, a group of researchers mostly from low and middle income countries, describe how the UN meeting provides an opportunity to mount a major global response to non-communicable diseases, how its success can be made more likely, and what outcomes we would like to see.