WHO Civil Society Working Group on NCDs
The WHO Civil Society Working Group (CSWG) on Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) is a WHO-coordinated network of 36 representatives of civil society organizations promoting meaningful engagement and advocating globally for bold and transformative multistakeholder solutions to address NCDs and integrated health challenges as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The WHO Director-General first convened the CSWG from October 2017 to October 2018 to support meaningful civil society engagement and participation in the preparatory process in the lead up to the third United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) High-Level Meeting (HLM) on NCDs in 2018.
After the effective implementation of the first mandate of the CSWG, the Director-General recognized the relevance and value of a sustained and strong civil society organization (CSO) voice to support the integrated implementation of WHO’s 13th General Programme of Work and the NCD agenda. The Director-General convened a second WHO CSWG on NCDs, from April 2019 to April 2021, to advise him on bold and practical recommendations on how to mobilise civil society relevant to NCDs to address the following primary objectives:
- to support the follow up and implementation of the outcomes of the 2018 UNGA HLM on NCDs;
- to maximise the opportunity of the 2019 UNGA HLM on UHC to address NCD prevention and control, including encouraging governments to include NCDs and mental health in national UHC benefit packages and strengthen public health functions and institutions to be more responsive to NCDs, mental health and wellbeing;
- to identify and maximize opportunities to forge synergies with civil society actors from other areas of global health to advocate for integration of services across the continuum of care as part of a comprehensive approach to UHC.
The CSWG implements its mandate across three workstreams:
- advocacy and communications;
- accountability;
- meaningful involvement of CSOs and people living with NCDs.
The role of the Working Group has become even more relevant due to the COVID-19 pandemic and each workstream has adapted its priorities in response to the heightened demand to strengthen advocacy and public health functions and institutions to scale up action in countries to reach SDG target 3.4.