TEHRAN – Iran participated in a meeting of the United Nations Interagency Task Force on the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases (UNIATF) which was held on Sunday with the aim of examining the consequences of the COVID-19 crisis on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the world.

Hosted by the Russian Federation, the meeting was attended by health ministers and officials of member countries, as well as officials of the World Health Organization, and a number of influential political figures.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, and health ministers expressed their views on the impact of the coronavirus crisis on NCDs prevention in the world.

It was agreed at the meeting that countries would increase their responses to non-communicable diseases during the pandemic.

High risk of COVID-19 in patients with non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension, impaired access to health services, especially in patients with cancer and diabetes, impaired access to the medicine during the epidemic, health gaps in the prevention of non-communicable diseases, the failure of governments to achieve sustainable development goals as a result of the pandemic were among the most important topics discussed at the meeting.

The UNIATF working group follows the commitment of heads of states to the UN Declaration on NCDs and the implementation of the World Health Organization's Global NCDs Action Plan in coordination with UN agencies and other intergovernmental organizations whose activities are relevant to supporting governments in their commitment to responding to the global non-communicable disease epidemic.

In Iran, the National Committee for the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases was established in 2015 in the Ministry of Health with the participation of the Departments of Health, Treatment, Education, Research and Technology, Development, Social Affairs, Nursing, and the Food and Drug Administration.

One of the most important achievements of this committee is the development of a national document for the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases in a 10-year period, which has made the goals and strategies of the country to reduce mortality and disability due to non-communicable diseases.

Also, due to the serious challenges of COVID-19 in the management of non-communicable diseases, the National Program for Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases and Related Risk Factors in Iran has been developed and announced to medical universities.

Nigeria, Mexico, Armenia, Russia, the United Kingdom, India, Norway, Brunei, Ghana, Argentina, Brazil, the United States, Australia, and Japan also attended the meeting presenting their significant achievements in the field of prevention and management of non-communicable diseases.

Earlier, in 2018, the UNIATF Award was presented to Iran for the prevention of NCDs.

COVID-19 mortality in Iran

In the press briefing on Monday, Health Ministry spokesperson Sima-Sadat Lari confirmed 3,512 new cases of COVID-19 infection, raising the total number of infections to 449,960. She added that 376,531 patients have so far recovered, but 4,068 still remain in critical conditions of the disease.

In the past 24 hours, 190 patients have lost their lives, bringing the total number of deaths to 25,779, she added.

Lari noted that so far 3,959,783 COVID-19 tests have been conducted across the country.

She said the high-risk “red” zones include provinces of Tehran, Isfahan, Qom, East Azerbaijan, South Khorasan, Semnan, Qazvin, Lorestan, Ardabil, Khuzestan, Kermanshah, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, Gilan, Bushehr, Zanjan, Ilam, Khorasan Razavi, Mazandaran, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Alborz, West Azerbaijan, Markazi, Kerman, North Khorasan, Hamedan, and Yazd.

The provinces of Kurdistan, Hormozgan, Fars, and Golestan are also on alert.
FB/MG