London: new research focus on NCDs

LSTHM launches new Centre for Global NCDs

On 25 April, a launch conference – ‘Global NCDs: from research to action’ – was held for the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine’s new Centre for Global NCDs. The work of the centre was introduced by its director Peter Piot, who explained that he used to work in the field of HIV, but has shifted his attention to NCDs when he realised that this crisis is, in fact, more important. The centre is focusing on three main themes: the impacts of globalisation on NCD risk-factor profiles (policy, ecological approaches), pathways to NCDs (including genetics, social determinants etc.), and improving public health and healthcare for NCDs (for which evaluation is particularly important). It will undertake information sharing (seminars etc.), research, will act as a focus within the LSHTM for information on NCDs, and will be a training centre, running short courses and distance learning.

The day-long event featured a range of interesting speakers, including Richard Horton of the Lancet and Ruth Bonita, who focused on the global reach of NCDs – she commented that it is a ‘scandal’ that we did not act to put in place the model that would have averted 32 million deaths from NCDs by 2015. In a session on NCD prevention, Modi Motswama spoke about conflicts of interest (while also calling for partnership) and Sir Andy Haines spoke on the links between NCDs and low-carbon policies (for example, reducing meat and dairy consumption would have environmental benefits, and a reduction of animal-source saturated fats by 30 per cent in the UK could reduce heart disease deaths by about 15 per cent).

A particularly interesting talk was that by David Leon, on alcohol and CVD in Russia, who focused on hazardous drinking (where he believes more effort should be focused). Life expectancy has wildly fluctuated since 1950 (falling below that of Bangladesh in 1994) – and has correlated remarkably closely with alcohol consumption (which rose dramatically after the fall of Communism – as death rates rose). ‘Russians believe they can drink.. It is an aspect of their identity.’ Hazardous drinking is the cause of 43 per cent of deaths among men aged 25–54 in Izhevsk, where a major study has taken place.

A further session was on ‘applying what we know’ to the various NCDs, including mental health (which, according to Martin Prince, accounts for 28 per cent of the global burden of NCDs, compared to 11 per cent for cancer and 21 per cent for CVD) and injuries (there are 5.8 million deaths a year from injuries, 32 per cent more than TB, HIV and malaria combined).

There was also a session on ‘global action on NCDs’, at which Johanna Ralston spoke about the NCD Alliance (including a nice shout-out for ‘my friend from C3’ when mentioning the 2,000 organisations in the Common Interest Group). She talked about the “25×25” aim – a 25 per cent reduction in NCD deaths by 2025 – which has been taken up by the WHO after the UN HLM, and that there are currently targets under construction: reduced in number from 10 to 5 in March, but now including physical activity, which was omitted from the original set. She also noted that the next important milestone is the expiration of the MDGs in 2015. She pointed out the difference in mindset that has happened over the last few years, quoting the Economist in 2006 (that WHO has an ‘addiction to noisy campaigns’ on the risk factors) to 2011 (‘NCDs kill people earlier in poor countries… [which has a] grave impact not just on health, but on growth’).

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