Every day, we make choices to stay healthy: what we eat, how active we are, whether we avoid tobacco, or when we seek a health check-up. Yet, we often overlook the long-term impact of these everyday decisions.
Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) can have a significant impact on our lives over time. Heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, and chronic respiratory diseases are among the major NCDs and remain a significant global public health challenge. However, through awareness, healthy lifestyles, early detection, and access to necessary healthcare, many NCD risks can be reduced. Understanding NCDs and taking action today is therefore important for everyone.
2026 Theme: Leadership in Focus: From Commitments to Delivery NCDs are a major global public health challenge, with heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, and chronic lung disease among the leading types. Key risk factors include tobacco use, physical inactivity, unhealthy diets, harmful use of alcohol, and air pollution. WHO emphasises that prevention, early detection, screening, treatment, and access to essential healthcare are critical to reducing the burden of NCDs.
According to the 2026 Act on NCDs findings, around 100 million people are pushed into extreme poverty every year due to out-of-pocket health spending, while medicines account for more than half of out-of-pocket health spending in three-quarters of countries. This highlights the need for sustainable financing and more affordable access to essential NCD care.
NCD prevention and control require greater attention to several key challenges, including limited awareness of risk factors, unhealthy diets, physical inactivity, tobacco use, and exposure to environmental risks. Strengthening early detection and screening, ensuring affordable, high-quality healthcare, and reducing the financial and social burden on individuals and families are also essential.
Young people can play an important role in raising awareness and encouraging action on NCD prevention. Their perspectives highlight the importance of healthy lifestyles, early detection, accessible healthcare, and stronger community engagement.
To further amplify these messages, a short video featuring youth perspectives on NCD prevention and action is included in this campaign.
Addressing NCDs requires action at multiple levels. It is important to raise awareness about NCDs and their risk factors while promoting healthy lifestyles, including healthy diets, regular physical activity, and tobacco-free living. Access to early detection and timely screening should also be strengthened, alongside affordable high-quality healthcare and essential medicines. Young people should be meaningfully engaged in NCD prevention and advocacy, while stronger policies, financing, and accountability are needed to ensure effective and sustainable action against NCDs.
Strengthening NCD prevention and control requires coordinated action across sectors, stronger primary healthcare, timely detection and treatment, and improved access to essential health services. Addressing existing gaps in healthcare delivery will be important to reduce the burden of NCDs and build a healthier Bangladesh.
Achieving meaningful progress requires more than awareness; it requires collective action. Individuals, families, communities, young people, and policymakers all have a role to play in building a healthier future.
Our Health. Our Voice. Our Action.