World Obesity participates in the Second General Meeting of the Global Coordination Mechanism on NCDs
Since 2014, the World Health Organization’s Global Coordination Mechanism on NCDs (WHO GCM/NCD) supports the implementation of the WHO Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases 2013-2030, and the NCD-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and targets by facilitating multisectoral and multistakeholder collaborations at local, national, regional and global levels.
World Obesity has been a member of the GCM/NCD since 2014, alongside governments, UN Organisations, civil society organizations, the private sector, philanthropic foundations, people with lived experience, and academic institutions.
World Obesity was an active participant at the Second General Meeting of the GCM/NCD, which was held virtually from 23 to 25 April 2025, sharing recommendations on accelerating multisectoral and multistakeholder responses to obesity and other NCDs. The event marks one of several major milestones on the road to 2025 and the Fourth High-level Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on NCDs (HLM4).
On the first day of the meeting, Policy & Advocacy Advisor, Rachel Thompson presented highlights of a forthcoming issue brief that World Obesity has been working on in partnership with WHO, NCD Alliance and The George Institute. The brief is titled ‘Institutionalizing sustainable multisectoral collaboration for NCDs: How to incentivize and support durable multisectoral action’ and provides recommendations for governments, civil society and donors. The publication will be launched by WHO ahead of the HLM4.
On the second day, several World Obesity lived experience advocates participated in The 3rd WHO Symposium on Meaningful Engagement of People Living with NCDs which focused on ‘Empowering people and communities: Lived Experience and Grassroots Innovations’ and shared key messages co-crested with people with lived experience.
Allison Ibrahim
“I have a statement that I make in NCD related events. I ask the organizers - Have you also included representation of people with lived experience? While we reach out to governments, we also need to remind companies and organizations that are still not on board with meaningful engagement of their responsibilities. We need to strengthen patient inclusion charters as well as remuneration for technical expertise.”
On the final day, CEO Johanna Ralston was invited to share closing remarks and her recommendations for the GCM until 2030.
“My one ask is to have people at the centre, and that the expertise of lived experience is considered of equal weight to other expertise. We are the ones we have been waiting for. We need to get beyond waiting for someone to rescue us as the NCD community.”
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