If you aren’t already aware, there is an event scheduled for September 18th in NYC.  It’s called Unite for a Healthy Future and the purpose is to support the fights against non-communicable diseases like diabetes, cancer, heart disease and chronic respiratory disease. The International Diabetes Federation and civil society leaders are organizing an afternoon in Central Park, New York City, the day before the UN summit. 

However in recent days, there have been efforts to weaken the progress on this subject.  From the IDF website: “International progress on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and chronic respiratory disease, is at grave risk, because of recent efforts by some member states to postpone and weaken United Nations negotiations, an alliance of civil society organisations warned today.  In a letter addressed to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the NCD Alliance, a coalition of over 2,000 organisations from over 170 countries focusing on NCDs, attacked the state of negotiations towards the first-ever UN High-Level Meeting on the Prevention and Control of NCDs, scheduled for 19–20 September in New York. Referring to the Political Declaration, which will be the outcome of the meeting, the Alliance said: “The situation is urgent. Yet, it is reported that sound proposals for the draft Declaration to include time-bound commitments and targets are being systematically deleted, diluted and downgraded.””

We need to do everything we can to make sure our leaders do not abandon this effort!  Manny Hernandez from TuDiabetes, posted a great blog yesterday about this.  Please read his post We are here! We are here! We are here! HEAR US!

I contacted President Obama via the White House website.  This was my declaration to him:

“I understand the NCD Alliance has jeopardized the progress on the non-communicable disease epidemic. This cannot happen. NCDs are now the leading cause of death worldwide each year. And it’s only going to get worse. I am a person living with type 1 diabetes and I do not want to see this disease continue to grow in statistics. I also do not want to become a victim of disability because of my disease. Something needs to be done. So many people in the US are affected by these diseases and the hardships that stem from them. It affects the economy. It affects our healthcare system. These are the people that you govern and work hard for. We need you to attend the NCD Summit on September 19, 2011. We need you to represent us. So many lives are depending on your presence.”

Please follow my lead and the suggestion of Manny to spread the word about the importance of this issue and to contact your government representatives.  We need them to act on this.  Our world depends on it.