Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes represent a major challenge for sustainable development and the achievement of Agenda 2030. They hamper social and economic development, increase inequalities, and perpetuate poverty.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), each year NCDs contribute to the deaths of 17 million people under the age of 70, with 86% of these premature deaths occurring in low- and middle-income countries.
The law plays a vital role in reducing the prevalence of NCDs, including through regulation and fiscal reforms that address the main NCD risk factors. Unhealthy diets and insufficient levels of physical activity are two of the major risk factors that can be addressed through regulatory action.
Since 2019, IDLO, in collaboration with WHO and in coordination with the International Development Research Centre, has implemented the Global Regulatory and Fiscal Capacity Building Programme (Global RECAP) to support countries in building enabling environments to promote healthy diets and physical activity. The programme has been supported by the OPEC Fund for International Development (2019-2022) the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (2022-2025), and the European Commission (2024-2026).
Global RECAP uses a combination of capacity building, social mobilization and research to build countries’ regulatory and fiscal capacities to support the development, adoption, implementation and monitoring of cost-effective, evidence-informed, coherent and equitable measures to promote healthy diets and physical activity.
In its initial phase (2019-2022), Global RECAP supported five low and middle-income countries in East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda) and South Asia (Bangladesh and Sri Lanka). Upon the successful assessment of achievements under the first phase, the programme’s second phase (2022-2026) has expanded these efforts to five additional countries: Ghana, Indonesia, Mauritius, Nepal and Thailand.
Photo ©: Biodiversity International
Related Initiatives
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Promoting Healthy Diets and Physical Activity in Uganda -
Promoting Healthy Diets and Physical Activity in Tanzania -
In 2014 IDLO signed agreements with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) to build legal capacity to address public health challenges. The initial focus is on obesity, diabetes, healthy diets and physical activity. Also in 2014, IDLO, the WHO and the University of Sydney convened the first regional consultation on overweight, obesity, diabetes and law in the Western Pacific.
