Informing the 2011 UN session on noncommunicable diseases: Applying lessons from the AIDS response

The United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on HIV/AIDS in 2001 was a critical event that dramatically enhanced the global AIDS response. Ten years later, the September 2011 UN High-Level Meeting on Noncommunicable Disease Prevention and Control provides a similar opportunity for the international community and national stakeholders to raise awareness and launch an effective global response to noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). It is an opportunity that should not be missed as it will not likely occur again. Infectious diseases continue to have a devastating impact on the health and development of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). However, NCDs have silently become “the poor world's greatest health problem” and the major causes of premature deaths in LMIC.