CPA calls for support for pharmacist leadership in tackling non-communicable diseases
As officials gather for the United Nations High Level Meeting on NCDs, CPA is calling for the full integration of pharmacists and pharmacies into national strategies to tackle these diseases
Today (25th September 2025), political leaders meet in New York City for the fourth High-Level Meeting on the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases and the Promotion of Mental Health and Well-Being (HLM4).
Pharmacists play a vital role in addressing noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), particularly in low-resource settings. The Commonwealth Pharmacists Association (CPA) strongly welcomes the zero draft of the Political Declaration being put forward at HLM4, and calls on policymakers across the Commonwealth and beyond to ensure that pharmacy is fully integrated into countries’ NCD responses to optimise patient outcomes.
HLM4, coordinated by the United Nations General Assembly, seeks to take steps to address the burden of NCDs – the leading cause of premature deaths globally. The United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals, adopted by all UN members in 2015, set out a target to “by 2030, reduce by one third premature mortality from NCDs through prevention and treatment and promote mental health and well-being”. With just five years to go, progress towards this target is off track.
Chronic, widespread underinvestment in health services has resulted in a significant equity gap in the care and support available to people affected by NCDs and mental health conditions. At HLM4, political leaders from across the world will have the opportunity to adopt a new, achievable Political Declaration on NCDs, and commit to addressing this burden through stronger financing, intergovernmental collaboration and rooting out the socioeconomic causes of these inequities.
Pharmacists, as medicines experts, bring a unique skillset to the management of patients living with NCDs. Additionally, their holistic understanding of patient care and integration within their communities means they are well-positioned to play an important part in the prevention of NCDs. Furthermore, they are often the most accessible healthcare professionals available to patients; they are the first point of contact for anybody feeling unwell, highlighting their essential role in the early detection of NCDs.
Yet at the same time, pharmacists and their teams are a largely untapped resource in the context of many global health systems. Despite the World Health Organisation (WHO) and International Pharmaceutical Federation each recognising the indispensable role pharmacists play in disease prevention and medicines safety, they too often remain undervalued and underutilised in this area.
Case Study: Malaysia
In Malaysia our member organisation, the Malaysian Pharmacists Society (MPS), has played a crucial role in driving forward the treatment and prevention of NCDs. MPS and its members played a crucial role in the country’s government-led smoking cessation campaign, which won the WHO’s prestigious World No Tobacco Day Award earlier this year.
Meanwhile in the treatment of Diabetes, Medication Therapy Adherence Clinics have been rolled out in hospitals and primary health centres, providing pharmacy-led diabetes care to provide patient education, monitor outcomes, manage drug-related problems, and adjust insulin doses.
Championing the role of patient self care
As part of our observation of HLM4, CPA is proud to be a signatory of the Global Self-Care Federation’s Self-Care Manifesto. In doing so, we resolve to work with policymakers and UN Member States to champion self-care interventions as a lever for individuals to exercise their right to health, as a policy imperative, and as a public health investment that strengthens, not bypasses, health systems.
The Manifesto aligns with CPA’s broader commitment to building strong health systems across the world through leveraging the full potential of pharmacists. Strategically positioned at the heart of communities and highly educated in the use of medicines, pharmacists play an essential role in supporting self-care. Extended roles of pharmacists in early detection, referral and management of NCDs can help to provide affordable and more immediately accessible care, whilst relieving pressures on severely over-stretched secondary care services, where global shortages of health workers put additional strain on the system.
By designing health services around the needs of patients and utilising the full potential of the entire health and care workforce, including pharmacists, we can work smarter – providing quality care closer to home and ensuring hospital care and more specialist services are freed up for those who need them.