“It happened quietly, and it didn’t make any headlines, but an agreement reached in Geneva last week represents a key step forward in the battle against some of the world’s biggest killers: non-communicable diseases (NCDs), including heart disease, cancer, and diabetes,” Ambassador Betty King, permanent representative of the United States to the U.N., writes in the U.S. Department of State’s “DipNote” blog. She continues, “The WHO’s landmark agreement on NCDs is a remarkable demonstration of political will. By establishing a global monitoring framework based on nine voluntary benchmarks, and assessments of 25 risk factors and indicators, we have taken a historic next step towards global action to prevent cancer, diabetes, heart disease and other NCDs.” King notes the framework agreement “will be submitted to the WHO governing bodies in 2013 for final adoption” (11/14).