Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg and current World Health Director (WHO) Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made a public call for an increased global focus on noncommunicable diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, cancer and respiratory diseases, to help counteract the impact of COVID-19, according to a WHO press release Sunday.
As Global Ambassador, Bloomberg has sought to tackle some of the most pressing health issues. Bloomberg, who will continue as the Global Ambassador for a third term, will work to raise awareness about the connection between COVID-19 and noncommunicable diseases, as well as investing in measures to fight these diseases, mobilize metropolitan areas for improved health and encourage a better means for collecting health data.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the full danger of noncommunicable diseases – and signaled the urgent need for stronger public health policies and investment to prevent them,” said Ghebreyesus.
“We urge world leaders in business and government to take aggressive steps to prevent noncommunicable diseases,” he said. “Fewer NCDs would have meant fewer deaths during the pandemic.”
“The majority of those who have died from COVID-19 had an underlying noncommunicable disease, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic lung disease or cancer. NCDs account for nearly three-quarters of all deaths around the world, and the scale and urgency of the problem was thrown into sharp relief by COVID-19. NCDs can be prevented, and we know what works,” said Bloomberg.
“Bloomberg Philanthropies has been working with WHO to reduce tobacco use, support healthier diets, fight cardiovascular disease, and strengthen health data to guide our work. We look forward to expanding our efforts to help more cities and countries take action on NCDs and to save lives,” the former mayor added.
According to the WHO, noncommunicable diseases kill around 40 million people every year.