“Over the past year I have been involved with the Oxford Martin Commission for Future Generations, a group of international leaders working to identify how progress can be delivered on critical challenges such as addressing the global burden of chronic disease and the risks (and opportunities) associated with our hyper-connected world,” Peter Piot, director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, writes in the Huffington Post’s “Impact” blog. “Our report, ‘Now for the Long Term,’ highlights the deep global inequalities which persist in access to food, adequate sanitation, vaccines and health care, and aims to shift government and business priorities towards longer-term challenges that will shape our futures,” he adds.

“[W]e believe the threat of non-communicable diseases [NCDs], such as stroke, cancer, diabetes and dementia, cannot be ignored,” Piot writes. “To better respond to the threat of NCDs, the Oxford Martin Commission recommends the creation of an action-focused global network centered on cities and dedicated to fighting the rise of NCDs,” he states, adding, “This would require engaging with the food, beverage and alcohol industries, as well as developing and enforcing healthy food and drinking regulation beyond total smoking bans, and creating incentives for the production and marketing of healthy, tasty and affordable food” (10/18).