A national multisectoral commission: Contours and Contributions to the Population Health Development

The World Health Organization (WHO) Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) 2013-2030 emphasises that effective NCD prevention and control requires leadership, coordinated multisectoral and multistakeholder engagement across a broad range of sectors, and partnerships with relevant civil-society organisations and private-sector entities. This study identifies country specific policy instruments and levers, and thus, unfolds the context specific contributions of a national multisectoral commission to tackle the problems of NCDs.

The data from twenty-six countries (low-income countries: 2, lower-middle-income countries: 9, upper-middle-income countries: 11 and high-income countries: 4) spread over all six WHO regions are analysed at two levels - the first level of analysis examines the correlation between having a national multisectoral commission and the select risk factors for NCDs. In the second level of analysis, a series of regression-based models is applied for understanding the effect of having a national multisectoral commission on the probability of dying from any of four NCDs (cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, or chronic respiratory diseases), and also on the health adjusted life expectancy (HALE) at birth and at age 60 years.

Our results comprehend that (a) a national multisectoral commission is acting through a varied combinations of different instruments and levers, and such combinations do not follow any definite pattern, and (b) a consistent improvement of HALE is better sustained with having a national multisectoral commission for NCDs.

To conclude, this study establishes the need for further research on the performance of a national multisectoral commission, agency or mechanism for NCDs with a three-dimensional approach that is with an approach that includes (1) the national multisectoral commission, agency or mechanism for NCDs with its attributes, (2) the distribution of risk factors across different population groups, and (3) the demography and its determinants of health for the population.