UN Adopts First Joint Declaration on NCDs and Mental Health
World Leaders Approve Unified Global Framework on NCDs
Historic UN Pact Unites NCDs and Mental Health Goals
New York: For the first time, the United Nations has adopted a political declaration that formally brings noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and mental health under a single global policy framework, marking a structural shift in how the world’s leading causes of premature death and disability are addressed at the multilateral level.
The fourth High-Level Meeting of the Assembly on the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases and the promotion of mental health and well-being, on September 25, 2025, was the forum where the declaration was considered following prior intergovernmental negotiations, but the formal adoption took place today (16 December 2025) at the eightieth session of the United Nations General Assembly after intergovernmental negotiations.
Titled “Equity and integration: transforming lives and livelihoods through leadership and action on noncommunicable diseases and the promotion of mental health and well-being”, the declaration consolidates physical and mental health priorities into a single political instrument. While the United Nations has previously adopted three political declarations on noncommunicable diseases in 2011, 2014 and 2018, the 2025 declaration is the first to integrate mental health explicitly within the noncommunicable disease agenda, aligning targets, implementation timelines and accountability mechanisms across both domains.
Noncommunicable diseases, including cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes, are responsible for an estimated 18 million premature deaths globally each year, with premature death defined at the global level as death occurring before the age of 70. At the same time, more than one billion people worldwide are affected by mental health conditions. According to the declaration, both noncommunicable diseases and mental health conditions are increasing across countries and income groups, driven in part by shared and largely preventable risk factors such as unhealthy diets, tobacco use, harmful use of alcohol, physical inactivity and air pollution. The text places these conditions not only within a public health context but also links them to productivity, livelihoods and sustainable economic growth.
A defining feature of the declaration is the introduction of three global “fast-track” outcome targets to be achieved by 2030. These targets aim to reduce the number of tobacco users worldwide by 150 million, achieve controlled hypertension in 150 million additional people, and expand access to mental health care for 150 million more individuals. The declaration characterises these targets as high-impact accelerators intended to focus political attention and measurement on a limited number of outcomes with broad population-level effects.
To support these outcome goals, the declaration sets out a series of measurable system-level targets for national implementation by 2030. These include commitments for at least 80 per cent of countries to have policy, legislative, regulatory and fiscal measures addressing noncommunicable diseases and mental health, and for 80 per cent of primary health care facilities to have access to affordable, World Health Organization-recommended essential medicines and basic technologies. Additional targets call for financial protection measures covering essential services in at least 60 per cent of countries, operational multisectoral national plans in 80 per cent of countries, and robust surveillance and monitoring systems in 80 per cent.
The declaration significantly expands the scope of global commitments compared with earlier texts. It explicitly includes disease areas not previously addressed in political declarations, such as oral health, lung health, childhood cancer, liver disease, kidney disease and rare diseases. Environmental determinants are broadened to cover air pollution, access to clean cooking, lead exposure and hazardous chemicals, while emerging risks associated with the digital environment — including excessive screen time, exposure to harmful content and the spread of misinformation and disinformation — are recognised as evolving challenges.
Regulatory commitments are sharpened in areas including electronic cigarettes and novel tobacco products, marketing of unhealthy foods to children, front-of-pack nutrition labelling, and the elimination of industrially produced trans fats. The declaration adopts an explicit equity framing, referencing the needs of people living with noncommunicable diseases and mental health conditions, children and adolescents, climate-vulnerable populations, Small Island Developing States, and people in humanitarian settings, and calls for the inclusion of lived experience in policy development and implementation.
In the context of strained global economic conditions, the declaration contains stronger language on financing than its predecessors. It urges countries to secure adequate, predictable and sustained funding through increased domestic financing, strengthened international partnerships and coordinated multilateral frameworks. It positions action on noncommunicable diseases and mental health as central to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, rather than as a standalone health agenda.
The declaration also establishes a framework for accountability. The United Nations Secretary-General is mandated to report on progress towards the 2030 targets ahead of the next High-Level Meeting on noncommunicable diseases and mental health. The World Health Organization, together with other United Nations agencies, will support Member States in translating the commitments into national action and monitoring implementation from now until 2030 and beyond.
Adopted through consensus at the General Assembly, the declaration consolidates earlier political commitments while introducing integrated targets, expanded scope and clearer reporting expectations, setting out the agreed global framework for addressing noncommunicable diseases and mental health over the remainder of the decade.
– global bihari bureau
