2025 Programme

Venue
CSIR ICC (Jade)

Hosts
Balkan Network of Science Journalists (BNSJ)
World Health Organization (WHO)

We are all affected by NCDs and their risk factors, with huge numbers of people across the globe living with these diseases and their consequences. The majority of deaths in the world are due to NCDs: every two seconds someone under the age of 70 dies of an NCD. Medical advances mean that fewer people are dying of infectious diseases, but too many people are getting ill and dying from NCDs that could have been prevented. The vast majority (86%) of these early deaths are in low- and middle-income countries. The burden of NCDs is so huge that the numbers can feel incomprehensible: over 43 million people a year die from NCDs. Cardiovascular disease alone kills more people than HIV, TB and malaria combined.

NCDs are not just about deaths. People of all ages are affected by NCDs and their risk factors. Often people don’t even know that they are at risk of an NCD: only half of the one in three adults in the world who have hypertension (high blood pressure) are aware that they have it. Obesity is rising: in 2022 one in eight people in the world were affected. Many people live with more than one NCD.

Vulnerability to NCDs does not fall equally on everyone. Socioeconomic factors, the coexistence of other diseases and where people live all play a significant role in who is most at risk of being hardest hit by NCDs. NCDs are not just diseases of affluence: in fact, it’s quite the reverse. Poorer people in every society are likely to have a harder time staying healthy, and they are less likely to be able to afford care, particularly where there is not a system of universal healthcare coverage. Where family members are living with NCDs, the costs of care and the costs of not working often contribute to poverty across generations. NCDs are an issue of health equity and of human rights, affecting the most vulnerable, just as did HIV/AIDS in the past. People of all ages can be affected by NCDs, from young children to the oldest in the population. Those at particular risk include women, although NCDs are sometimes – wrongly – thought to be more of a health crisis among men. In fact, cardiovascular disease kills more women than any other disease. Despite this, NCDs are often invisible in media coverage.

Moderator
Ms Milica Momcilovic (Radio Television Serbia)

Speakers
Shenaaz El-Halabi (WHO Representative to South Africa)
Dr Mwangi (WHO South Africa Country Office)
Yoliswa Sobuwa (Sunday Times and Times Live in South Africa)
Pauline Ongaji (Kenya Media Group)