This post, cross-posted with permission from The Leadership, Managment, and Governance (LMG) project blog on LMGforHealth.org [5], is part of our Global Health Impact series on the 67th World Health Assembly [6] in Geneva, May 18-24, 2014. MSH is co-hosting three side events [7] focusing on the role of universal health coverage (May 20), chronic diseases (May 20), and governance for health (May 21) in the post-2015 framework. This year, six MSH representatives [7] are attending WHA as part of the 60-plus-person Global Health Council (GHC) delegation.

The field of global health is changing, with interest in a new era of multi-stakeholder involvement, chronic non-communicable diseases, health system strengthening, and universal health coverage.

The 66th World Health Assembly [14], the primary decision-making body of the World Health Organization (WHO), will consider these critical topics for addressing the health-related post-2015 development goals at its upcoming meeting in Geneva (May 20 to 28).

Join us --- the Global Health Council, Anheuser-Busch InBev, the Center for Global Health and Diplomacy, and Management Sciences for Health (MSH) --- in person or virtually, for a panel discussion on May 21 [15] on how the global health community is responding to shifting health priorities, and what’s working—and what’s not—in the way we approach health delivery.

The World Health Organization (WHO) established a global monitoring framework for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) [18] at a Geneva meeting on November 9, 2012 --- a little over a year after the UN General Assembly adopted a political declaration on NCDs [19].

The chronic disease burden on low- and middle-income countries is vast: 28 million people in developing countries die annually from chronic diseases; yet, 8 million of these deaths are preventable.

The 65th World Health Assembly [22] is convening this week in Geneva, beginning May 21. For six days, the Assembly will focus the world’s attention on chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs), universal health coverage, mental disorders, nutrition and adolescent pregnancy, among other health issues.

This is the second time in less than a year that chronic NCDs --- such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and lung diseases --- are in the international spotlight. Last fall, the High Level Summit on Non-Communicable Diseases [23] convened in New York, when, for only the second time in the history of the United Nations, a high level summit focused on a global health concern.