The five-day international conference and meeting of Health Ministers of WHO's Southeast Asia Region ended today with various member states resolving to prevent and control non-communicable diseases which claim an estimated 7.9 million lives every year.
The meeting also saw the adoption of 'Delhi Declaration on High Blood Pressure' by SEAR nations that gives priority to the prevention and control of high blood pressure.
It strives to achieve global voluntary targets and indicators for prevention and control of non-communicable diseases, included in the global monitoring framework and endorsed by the 66th World Health Assembly where it was resolved to reduce prevalence of hypertension by 25 per cent by 2025.
It also commits member countries to develop, strengthen and implement national multi-sectoral policies and action plans to promote physical activity and healthy diet, and reduce exposure to tobacco and harmful use of alcohol.
Major non-communicable diseases (NCDs)- cardiovascular diseases, chronic respiratory diseases, cancer and diabetes - together account almost 55 per cent of all deaths in the South-East Asian Region (SEAR), WHO estimates say.
President Pranab Mukherjee had inaugurated the meeting in the presence of Indian Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and WHO Director General Mangaret Chan and Health Ministers of 11 SEAR nations-- Bangladesh, Bhutan, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Timor-Leste.
The conference also saw India's candidate Poonam Khetrapal Singh elected as WHO's SEAR regional director, a post held by an Indian after 44 years.
The declaration commits to continue to implement the Political Declaration of the High-level Meeting of the General Assembly on the Prevention and Control of Non-communicable Diseases, of September 2011.
