WHO Collaborating Centre
on Non Communicable Disease Policy

The World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre on Non Communicable Disease Policy is housed in the Public Health Agency of Canada under the scientific leadership of the Deputy Chief Public Health Officer.

As the only collaborating centre on non communicable disease policy in the Americas and Europe, the Agency's WHO Collaborating Centre has become a global centre of excellence in the analysis of chronic disease policy development and implementation.

Non communicable diseases, sometimes referred to as NCDs, account for the highest cause of death in Canada and the world. NCDs include a variety of chronic diseases such as arthritis, diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, and mental illness. NCDs are preventable and are linked through modifiable behavioural risk factors such as tobacco and alcohol use, blood pressure, physical inactivity, cholesterol, overweight, stress and unhealthy diet.

As an international leader in the analysis of NCD policy development and implementation, the WHO Collaborating Centre has fostered an integrated approach to chronic disease prevention and control:

• The WHO Collaborating Centre co-leads with the Pan American Health Organization in  development of the Chronic Non Communicable Disease Policy Observatory in partnership with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). The purpose of the Observatory is to promote the expansion of effective systematic NCD policy development and implementation using both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. The Observatory also fosters strong international and pan-sectoral NCD-prevention collaborations and shares its findings through a variety of channels including publications, websites and international policy dialogues and conferences.

• The Observatory's broad mandate includes the review of public policies affecting NCD prevention, risk factors and risk conditions, as well as relevant legislations and regulations. The Observatory has been successful in boosting the technical capacity of policy analysis in a number of countries of the Americas, such as Costa Rica, Brazil, as well as European regions, such as Russia, Slovenia and Spain.

• The WHO Collaborating Centre also supports the development of policy consultations and case studies on NCDs in a number of countries in Europe and in the Americas participating in the WHO regional network such as PAHO's initiative.

  Links:

  • Conjunto de Acciones para la Reduccion Multifactorial de Enfermedades No transmisibles (CARMEN)
  • Countrywide Integrated Non Communicable Disease Intervention (CINDI).

• The WHO Collaborating Centre has played an integral role in the development and signing of an international Framework for Cooperation on Chronic Diseases between the WHO and Canada. The objective of the framework is to promote joint actions aimed at strengthening the global response to NCDs in key areas such as policy development and evaluation, development and dissemination of best practices, implementation of the Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health, and cancer prevention and control.

• Through the Deputy Chief Public Health Officer, the WHO Collaborating Centre coordinates an international working group on non communicable disease policy. It provided technical support to the development of both the WHO European Regional Strategy and the Pan American Health Organization NCD action plans.