Princess Lalla Salma in New York to take part in UN meeting on NCDs

Princess Lalla Salma arrived, on Monday, in the headquarters of the UN in New York to take part in the the UN General Assembly's high-level meeting on non-communicable diseases (NCDs). HRH the princess Lalla Salma, Chairwoman of the Lalla Salma Association for the Fight against Cancer (ALSLC), leads the Moroccan delegation to this important event that is held within the framework of the 66th UN General Assembly. HRH the Princess, who is also Goodwill Ambassador for the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Honorary President of the Alliance of Eastern Mediterranean NGOs for the fight against cancer, was accompanied by Health Minister Yasmina Badou, Morocco’s permanent representative to the UN, Ambassador Mohamed Loulichki and executive director of the (ALSLC), Dr Rachid Bakkali. Afterwards, HRH the Princess attended the opening of the high-level meeting which was marked by the speeches of the president of the 66th General Assembly session, the UN Secretary General, the WHO Secretary General and Princess Dina Mired of Jordan, Director General of King Hussein Foundation for the fight against, who addressed the meeting in her capacity as representative of the civil society. The meeting will address the means to prevent and control NCDs worldwide, with a special focus on the social and economic challenges in developing countries. The NCDs, such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease and stroke, and chronic lung disease,  kill three people out of five of the world’s population. According to figures released by the WHO, NCDs are to blame for the 36 million of the 57million deaths in 2008.