Kerala wins United Nations award on prevention, control of non-communicable diseases

Kerala has won the United Nations award on September 24, 2020, for its excellent contribution towards the non-communicable diseases-related sustainable development goals.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced the UN Interagency Task Force (UNIATF) 2020 award on prevention and control of non-communicable diseases.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, President of Ethiopia Sahle-Work Zewde, and the President of the General Assembly Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, were among other speakers during the event.

What does the United Nations award recognize?

The award by the United Nations recognizes the achievements during 2019 on the multisectoral action in the control and prevention of mental health, NCDs (Non-Communicable Diseases), and the wider NCD-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

Reasons for Kerala winning the award:

This is the first time that Kerala has been recognized for the annual award. The state government on the achievement stated that the United Nations award was a recognition of the lifestyle diseases control mechanism in Kerala and of the free services and treatment received by a large section of the population.

In addition, the cancer treatment program, the state-of-the-art lung disease control program, and the paralysis control program was also considered for the award. Kerala is also among the seven ministries of health across the world.

Kerala govt on winning the UN award:

Health Minister of Kerala, K Shailaja congratulated all the health workers in the state on this achievement and mentioned that the award was the recognition of their tireless service.

In a statement on winning the award, the health minister also mentioned that the state government has arranged facilities from basic health public centres to the hospitals at all levels to treat the lifestyle diseases.

She added that the government and health workers were able to control the death rate during the coronavirus period as we were able to focus on NCDs (Non-Communicable Diseases).