The global coalition, a group of over 70 public health NGOs and groups, has asked the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health to take urgent action against the developed countries like the US, Canada, European Union and Japan for acting contrary to human rights in the negotiations on the draft political declaration for the first United Nations General Assembly Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) high-level meeting, which has resumed in New York City.

The complaint targets these developed countries that have been thwarting key proposals which would give the declaration on NCDs “teeth” through time-bound targets and robust States’ commitments to undertake interventions proven to be effective. These actions together threaten the ability of States to comply with their obligations to respect, protect and fulfill the right to health and ensure access to medicines for all.

The NGOs and health groups are alarmed by the explicit efforts led by developed countries to weaken the Declaration’s language in a way that will undermine effective prevention and treatment of NCDs. Their concern is that a watered down political declaration will roll back the advances made realising access to medicines for all and will threaten the right to health of millions of people, especially those living in developing countries.

“The richer, more powerful countries are putting global health at risk for trade interests and economic gain,” says Sandeep Kishore of the Young Professionals Chronic Disease Network.

“It is time to take the lessons and victories from the access to medicines movement’s HIV/AIDS advocacy and apply them to the emerging NCD crisis, a crisis which is rapidly being recognised as the major health crisis of the poor and dispossessed,” says Rachel Kiddell-Monroe, president of Universities Allied for Essential Medicines and former aid worker with Médecins Sans Frontières.

The coalition is seeking accountability from all Member States involved in negotiating the NCD Political Declaration this week. “It is important that the Declaration call upon Member States to avoid conflicts of interest in their efforts of prevention and control of NCDs” says Gopakumar of the Third World Network.

“It would be a profound disappointment for a Declaration that is intended to promote public health to do less to promote access to medicines than existing global trade agreements. Oxfam urgently calls upon world leaders to ensure that strong and robust commitments to ensure access to affordable medicines is not left out of the final Declaration,” said Rohit Malpani, senior advisor at Oxfam. World leaders must act immediately and responsibly to deliver key changes and ensure actionable, measurable outcomes in the political declaration.