By 2020, it is projected that over 70% of the global burden of disease will be caused by noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), mental health disorders, and injuries. The increase in NCDs is disproportionately affecting poor populations and is contributing to widening health gaps. An important goal of the WHO Mega Country Health Promotion Network is to address the disease transition by strengthening country capacity to conduct behavioral risk factor surveillance so that the global evidence-base for NCD prevention and health promotion can be improved. The Network consists of a partnership among the 11 most populous countries that together constitute over 60% of the world's population. These diverse countries represent all levels of development. While systematic data collection efforts to provide information on communicable disease burden may be found in the Mega countries, the same cannot be said for NCD burden. Behavioral risk factor surveillance is currently nonexistent in most of these countries, which creates an enormous imbalance of information. By working together, Mega country representatives recognize the tremendous potential to strengthen their own national capacity for collecting NCD behavioral risk factor data in a systematic and sustainable manner. This collaboration provides a platform for Mega countries and beyond to benefit from each other’s expertise, contribute to the WHO global NCD surveillance strategy that is currently under development, and create a common core questionnaire and protocol for building country capacity to establish and maintain behavioral risk factor surveillance systems. Network activities, recommendations, and country-level surveillance implementation progress and issues are described.
Learning Objectives: (1) Understand the goals and activities of an international partnership among the most populous countries to: (a) address the global health transition from infectious to chronic diseases and (b) build capacity to establish sustainable behavioral risk factor surveillance systems. (2) Gain knowledge of how this initiative contributes to the WHO noncommunicable diseases global surveillance strategy. (3) Learn major recommendations from these collaborative partners on building a common core behavioral risk factor questionnaire and a protocol for establishing and maintaining effective surveillance systems.
Keywords: Surveillance, Health Risks
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.