Scope, Modalities, Format and Organization of the 3rd High-Level Meeting of the General Assembly on the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases

A/RES/72/274View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 117 Follow-up to the outcome of the Millennium Summit, published in 2018.

What subjects does this mandate have?

4 subjects

Conferences Disease Control Disease Prevention Non-Communicable Diseases

What’s in this document?

21 operative paragraphs

Decides to hold a one-day high-level meeting to undertake a comprehensive review of the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases, to be convened by the President of the General Assembly in New York on the third day of the general debate of the Assembly at its seventy-third session, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 3 to 6 p.m., consisting of an opening segment, a plenary segment for general discussion, two multi-stakeholder panels and a brief closing segment;

Also decides that the overall theme of the high-level meeting will be “Scaling up multi-stakeholder and multisectoral responses for the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”;

Further decides that:

The opening segment, to be held from 10 to 11 a.m., will feature statements by the President of the General Assembly at its seventy-third session, the Secretary-General, the Director General of the World Health Organization, a member of the World Health Organization Independent High-level Commission on Non-communicable Diseases, and an eminent champion of the fight against non-communicable diseases, selected, in consultation with Member States, by the President of the General Assembly, giving due consideration to gender equity;

The plenary segment, to be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 3 to 5:30 p.m. will comprise statements by Member States and observers of the General Assembly; a list of speakers will be established in accordance with established practices of the Assembly and the time limits for these statements will be three minutes for individual delegations and five minutes for statements made on behalf of a group of States;

Decides that the organizational arrangements for the two multi-stakeholder panels will be as follows:

Two consecutive multi-stakeholder panels will be held in parallel to the plenary segment, one from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and the other from 3 to 5 p.m.;

The multi-stakeholder panels will address two themes:

Panel 1: Strengthening health systems and financing for the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases, on each country’s path towards achieving universal health coverage, including through sharing evidence-based best practices, scientific knowledge and lessons learned;

Panel 2: Opportunities and challenges in engaging Governments, civil society and the private sector at the global, regional and national levels to promote multisectoral partnerships for the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases and the promotion of healthy lifestyles;

Each of the two multi-stakeholder panels will be co-chaired by two representatives, to be appointed by the President of the General Assembly from among the Heads of State or Government attending the high-level meeting, in consultation with the regional groups;

The President of the General Assembly may invite parliamentarians, local governments, the heads or senior representatives of relevant United Nations entities, civil society, the private sector, philanthropic foundations, academia, medical associations, indigenous leadership and community organizations to serve as speakers on the panels, taking into account gender equity, level of development and geographical representation;

Also decides that the closing segment by the President of the General Assembly will comprise summaries of the multi-stakeholder panels and concluding remarks by the President of the General Assembly;

Further decides that the high-level meeting shall approve a concise and action-oriented outcome document which builds on the opportunities and challenges in the implementation of previous commitments, agreed in advance by consensus through intergovernmental negotiations, to be submitted by the President of the General Assembly for adoption by the Assembly;

Requests the President of the General Assembly, with the support of the World Health Organization, to organize and preside over an interactive hearing, before the end of July 2018, with the active participation of appropriate senior-level representatives of Member States, observers of the General Assembly, parliamentarians, representatives of local government, relevant United Nations entities, non-governmental organizations in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council, invited civil society organizations, philanthropic foundations, academia, medical associations, the private sector and broader communities, ensuring the participation and voices of women, children and indigenous leadership, as part of the preparatory process for the high-level meeting, and also requests the President to prepare a summary of the hearing prior to the high-level meeting;

Encourages all Member States to participate in the high-level meeting, including the multi-stakeholder panels, at the highest possible level;

Invites all observers of the General Assembly to be represented at the highest possible level;

Invites the United Nations system, including funds, programmes and specialized agencies, including the World Health Organization, regional commissions and relevant envoys of the Secretary-General, as well as the United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on the Prevention and Control on Non-Communicable Diseases, to participate in the high-level meeting, as appropriate, and urges them to consider initiatives in support of the preparatory process and the meeting, particularly with regard to sharing evidence and good practices, challenges and lessons learned from responses related to non-communicable diseases;

Invites the Inter-Parliamentary Union to contribute to the high-level meeting;

Invites non-governmental organizations in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council with relevant expertise to register with the Secretariat to attend the meeting;

Requests the President of the General Assembly to draw up a list of other relevant representatives of relevant non-governmental organizations, civil society organizations, academic institutions and the private sector who may attend the high-level meeting and participate in the interactive hearing and the multi-stakeholder panels, taking into account the principles of transparency and equitable geographical representation, with due regard to the meaningful participation of women, and to submit the list to Member States for their consideration on a non-objection basis;⁵

⁵The list of proposed as well as final names will be brought to the attention of the General Assembly. Where a name is objected to, the objecting Member State will, on a voluntary basis, make known to the Office of the President of the General Assembly the general basis of its objections and the Office will share any information received with any Member State upon its request.

Encourages Member States to consider including in their national delegations representatives such as parliamentarians, mayors and governors, representatives of civil society, including non-governmental organizations, indigenous leadership, community organizations and faith-based organizations, academia, philanthropic foundations and the private sector, with due regard to gender equity;

Requests the President of the General Assembly at its seventy-second session, in consultation with Member States, to finalize the organizational arrangements for the high-level meeting.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

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