A Report of Effective Intervention Strategies Conducted by Non-Health Sectors

Abstract

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are the main leading cause of global mortality. Several causes of NCDs emerge from social and commercial determinants of health. Many of these causes cannot be tackled by the health sector alone. Most of data in this report were collected from the preparatory meeting of the Prince Mahidol Award Conference (PMAC) 2019, under the theme 'Political Economy of NCDs: A Whole Society Approach' with the main objective to accelerate implementation of NCDs prevention and control around the world. This paper concluded examples of NCD interventions that were presented at the conference. The article demonstrates how the non-health sectors can take a pivotal role in NCDs prevention. The key non-health sectors include, but are not limited to, the Ministry of Finance, private enterprises, communities and media. Public policies such as taxation on unhealthy commodities like alcohol, tobacco, and sugar sweetened beverages, helps reduce consumption of these products. Company’s voluntary policy to provide a lactation room in the workplace presents a strong vision of balancing company profits and well-being of the employees. Community intervention helps engage all relevant stakeholders to take part in NCDs prevention. The role of media is one of the powerful strategies to raise awareness in the population. These exemplified interventions have established ideas on how multi-sectoral actions are one of the key players that help topple down NCDs crisis in Thailand.

Keywords: non-communicable diseases, intervention, non-health sectors, Thailand