BMJ Opinion: Johanna Hanefeld and Benjamin Hawkins: NCDs — it’s time to embrace the evidence, not industry
Johanna Hanefeld, associate professor, and Benjamin Hawkins, assistant professor, both at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, discuss recommendations from a recent report by the WHO’s Independent High-Level Commission on Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs). The authors note, “The report is remarkable in the extent to which it reproduces a pro-business agenda. … Embracing actors from any health-harming industry is misguided given the scale of the current NCD crisis and their role within this. … The forthcoming U.N. High-Level Meeting on NCDs in September 2018 offers a perfect opportunity for the global policy community to redress this and change tack decisively on NCDs. Adopting clearer regulatory guidance — including for taxation of sugar, tobacco, and alcohol — should be the first decisive step towards a unified approach to tackling NCDs globally” (7/12).