Médecins Sans Frontières International

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Meeting: 

78th WHA Individual Statements

Agenda Item: 
- Items 12 and 13.1.
Statement: 

As a medical humanitarian assistance provider in over 70 countries, MSF witnesses a global double standard in noncommunicable disease (NCD) care. Essential NCD medical products and services are unaffordable and unavailable for many people living in low- and middle-income countries, and especially emergency settings.

Ahead of the UN High-level Meeting on NCDs, we urge WHO and Member States to prioritise universal access to NCD care by ambitiously implementing the following:

- Make diabetes and hypertension care universally available by ensuring affordable access to insulin in user-preferred forms and devices and glucose self-monitoring tools, updated treatments, and key diagnostics;
- Ensure people with mental health conditions have access to affordable and effective medicines, especially for psychosis; and
- Support initiatives increasing affordable access to effective HPV vaccination and screening, and cervical cancer treatment.