In this Scientist opinion piece, Edward Partridge, president of the American Cancer Society and director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Elizabeth Mayer-Davis, president of health care and education at the American Diabetes Association, and Ralph Sacco, immediate past president of the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association and professor and chairman of neurology at the Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami, write that while last month’s U.N. High-level Meeting to discuss non-communicable diseases (NCDs) helped to raise awareness about the burden of NCDs, several important steps must be taken immediately to prevent and control the diseases.

According to the authors, these steps include the implementation by governments of the commitments outlined in the Political Declaration “that call for acceleration of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), a global public health treaty focused on reducing the five million deaths per year caused by tobacco usage”; the development of national plans addressing NCDs; the incorporation of NCDs into the U.N.’s Millennium Development Goals; the establishment of clear, effective and achievable targets to reduce NCDs to be monitored by the WHO; and the mobilization of funding by governments, the private sector and civil society so that these plans can be effectively implemented (10/4).