Good morning from Manhattan,
The final day of the United Nations General Assembly is upon us, and if you've been flitting around from event to event in New York, this week we imagine that you, like us, may be ready for a short nap.
Yesterday brought about the third high-level meeting on noncommunicable diseases, which was met with a similarly lukewarm response as the high-level meeting on tuberculosis. We heard rumblings from civil society organizations that the high-level meeting did broaden the dialogue, but there's little confidence that any new financing or meaningful commitments will result.
Today will be a lighter day as many delegates head home. There will be a few final pieces of business, however, including the launch of a new World Health Organization initiative to reduce harmful alcohol use by 10 percent by 2025 and an event exploring the intersection of alcohol, NCDs, and sustainable development.
If this finds you packing your bags, safe travels, and we wish everyone a happy weekend. We'll be back on Monday with a wrap-up briefing on UNGA week.
— Team Devex
(Amy Lieberman, Michael Igoe, Adva Saldinger, Catherine Cheney, and Kate Midden)
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THE INDIA CONSENSUS
Some states in India are trying a new approach to development policy-making: Boiling decisions down to a cost-benefit analysis.
The India Consensus — a partnership between Tata Trusts and the Copenhagen Consensus Center — are at the forefront of this approach. Devex President and Editor-in-Chief Raj Kumar spoke to the leaders of these two organizations for a deeper look at the model.

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Sitting down with Devex, Johnson & Johnson's Sonali Sharma explains key steps needed to tackle the intersection between climate change and health, and reveals why policy, partnership, and a public relations overhaul could be needed.
Read more.
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GETTING ACCOUNTABILITY RIGHT FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN
Throughout the week there were discussions about accountability — for governments, aid dollars, and also the private sector. The Independent Accountability Panel for Every Woman Every Child, Every Adolescent this year focused its annual report on tackling how the private sector can be held accountable in efforts to promote health for women, children, and adolescents.
Quite a few of those recommendations involved a stronger government oversight role in regulating private health providers, pharmaceutical companies, and the food and beverage industry. Other recommendations pushed donors and EWEC itself to improve accountability and transparency standards for how they engage with the private sector.

At a meeting launching the report, Anders Nordström, representing the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health, said the report will start some important conversations, but that while companies have to follow laws, they are primarily accountable to their shareholders. Read the report here.
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LONG STORY SHORT: THE TOP STORIES FROM THE 73RD UNGA
U.N. correspondent Amy Lieberman talked NCDs, TB, Trump, and corporate partnerships (and lobbies) on this week's episode of Long Story Short.
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GLOBAL BUY-IN FOR DIGITAL HEALTH
On Thursday, WHO and global NGO PATH signed an agreement that aims to advance digital health initiatives globally by collaborating on strategy, convening government leadership, and mapping interventions to reach scale. Read more here.
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1 (MORE) NEW NCDS REPORT
NCDs are best treated at the local level, but primary health care systems — particularly in low- and middle-income countries — are not equipped to address such diseases.
Such are the findings of a new report we've launched with Philips that explores the connection between early detection and diagnosis of NCDs with our friends at Philips. You can find the full report here.
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Thank you for reading. If you have thoughts, feedback, story ideas, or questions you would like to share, please tweet us @devex or send a note to [email protected].
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