Saving lives, spending less: the global investment case for noncommunicable diseases

WHO’s report Saving lives, spending less makes a compelling case for urgent investment in cost-effective interventions to prevent and control non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Drawing on WHO’s package of NCD ‘best buys,’ the report demonstrates how evidence-based measures—such as taxing unhealthy products—can reduce premature deaths, strengthen health systems, and accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.

The report provides policymakers, donors, advocates, and partners with a clear economic and social rationale for scaling up proven interventions, showing that NCD prevention is not only a health priority but also a critical development goal. By framing action on NCDs as an investment with benefits across populations, economies, and generations, the report offers a practical roadmap to implement solutions that save lives, improve health equity, and generate resources that can be reinvested. The evidence is unequivocal: acting on WHO’s best buys is both feasible and imperative.

Read the report.