25
Nov

PMAC 2019 addressed NCDs as a theme in the title "The Political Economy of NCDs". This conference suggested various recommendations to tackle NCDs, such as encouraging a paradigm shift beyond health sectors and adopting multi-stakeholder and multisectoral coordination mechanisms to ensure the whole society approach.[1] Moreover, in this pandemic era, NCDs and COVID-19 are the deadly combinations as a syndemic that worsen socioeconomic inequality. Many countries accelerate more robust tobacco and alcohol control during the COVID-19 to help to reduce NCDs. This also should be adopted in promoting a healthy diet and physical activity.[2] For the sustainable improvement for NCDs, cost-effective health promotions and disease prevention should be addressed to tackle NCDs. Effective health promotion and disease prevention interventions should also address both proximal and distal determinants of ill health of the population in terms of both issue-based and setting-based determinants (such as, for issue-based, sedentary lifestyle, unhealthy eating, tobacco and alcohol uses[3]Along with setting-based, such as ageing society and vulnerable population).

Apart from policies, behavioural economics will guide the public decision-makers and private providers to provide good-default options for consumers.  Information on the commercial determinants should be uncovered. Evidence shows that NCDs are common health problems in the ageing population around the world, which could have been prevented with effective interventions at earlier stages in life. Thus, there is a need to develop strategies to prepare the national responses toward active ageing society through a life course approach.

[1] 2019, P., 2019. Prince Mahidol Conference 2019 Political Economy of NCDs. [Online]
Available at: http://pmac2019.com/site

[2] Lancet, T., 2020. COVID-19: a new lens for non-communicable diseases. The Lancet, 396(10252), p.649.

[3] Lämmle L, Woll A. Mensink G, Bös K. (2013) Distal and Proximal Factors of Health Behaviors and Their Associations with Health in Children and Adolescents. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2013, 10, 2944-2978; doi:10.3390/ijerph10072944

The facilitator will take the participants through the following process with respect to NCDs:

• Imagining the impossible future
• Challenging the used future
• Understanding disruptions
• Articulating first and second-order implications of these disruptions
• Creating scenarios
• Making the vision of the future real through backcasting
• Linking narrative to the vision
• Action learning steps - creating partnerships, next steps, strategies