Informing the 2011 UN Session on Noncommunicable Diseases: Applying Lessons from the AIDS Response

The United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on HIV/AIDS in 2001 was a critical event that dramatically enhanced the global AIDS response. Ten years later, the September 2011 UN HighLevel Meeting on Noncommunicable Disease Prevention and Control provides a similar opportunity for the international community and national stakeholders to raise awareness and launch an effective global response to noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). It is an opportunity that should not be missed as it will not likely occur again. Infectious diseases continue to have a devastating impact on the health and development of lowand middle-income countries (LMICs). However, NCDs have silently become ‘‘the poor world’s greatest health problem’’ and the major causes of premature deaths in LMIC [1]. Despite the growing burden in developing countries, NCDs have received little attention and funding to date [2]. Tremendous advances in the control of NCDs were achieved in the second half of the 20th century, mostly to the benefit of wealthy countries. LMIC should not only look at the lessons learned in the control of NCDs in developed countries, but also those from other areas of public health, especially AIDS, which can inform the design of an effective and sustainable response to NCDs in developing countries.