More than three of every five people who die today will do so because of a chronic, non-communicable disease ("NCD") such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer or lung disease. NCDs account for 75 percent of health care spending globally and cause hundreds of billions of dollars in productivity losses in developing countries alone. The human and economic costs are staggering.

Fortunately, the world is taking action. The United Nations just finished its first-ever High-Level Meeting on NCDs, potentially moving the world's most deadly and debilitating diseases to the top of the global agenda -- exactly where they belong.

Until recently, governments, donors and multilateral agencies like the World Health Organization have focused their attention on acute, infectious illnesses rather than NCDs.

Preventing the explosion of NCDs will not be easy. And positive outcomes from the U.N. meeting are unlikely without constructive engagement by the private sector.

In the past, some governments and multilateral agencies have tended to endorse regulation and mandates as the primary solution to global health challenges.

But government intervention isn't enough. The scope of this global health challenge calls for solutions far beyond the scope of any single institution.

Earlier this year, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on the world's businesses to help address NCDs. The private sector stands ready.

Governments, multilateral agencies, academia, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the private sector must join forces and pursue a wide range of innovative strategies, including multi-stakeholder partnerships, incentives, education and awareness campaigns to improve the way the world prevents, diagnoses and treats NCDs.

The private sector must make good on its social contract to help. We all share humanitarian concerns about improving public health. Yet businesses also have a vested interest in maintaining healthy and productive workforces. Nearly 50 percent of deaths occur among people in their most productive years.

Businesses also benefit from healthy consumers and economies -- which allow them to fulfill their responsibility to be profitable and competitive.

Delegates to the U.N. meeting must recognize the critical role businesses play in bringing valuable innovations to market, delivering tangible solutions, closing resource gaps and addressing the causes of poor health and disease.

While some NCDs arise from genetic and environmental factors, others result from unhealthy behaviors and lifestyle choices. As a result, they can often be combated with health promotion initiatives. Reducing tobacco, salt, sugar and alcohol consumption and improving diet and physical activity are practical, cost-effective approaches that can make a real difference.

Employers have tremendous power to lead on this front. Many companies have implemented health education and screening programs, no-smoking policies, workplace exercise campaigns, and community outreach initiatives.

Already, more than 40 organizations have joined the Workplace Wellness Alliance. Established by the World Economic Forum, this pioneering program supports the fight against NCDs by promoting best-in-class employee wellness programs through information-sharing and the use of standardized metrics.

Governments, multilateral agencies and donors must also prioritize their efforts, as roughly 80 percent of NCD-related deaths occur in low- or middle-income countries.

In developing countries, overcoming NCDs requires a different approach -- one that starts with establishing basic health systems and primary care infrastructures. Fortunately, we don't need to reinvent the wheel. The global campaign against AIDS, TB, and malaria has already put in place some of the health care infrastructure needed to tackle NCDs.

Partnerships, often led by NGOs and the private sector, have been particularly effective in this area. For example, the Boston-based non-profit Partners in Health, working in collaboration with the Rwandan Ministry of Health, has done a tremendous job controlling infectious diseases in Rwanda. Rwandans now have access to more than 400 health centers, 42 district hospitals, and 45,000 community health workers - and are living longer.

Now, Partners in Health is working with the Rwandan government to create a model for integrating NCD management into this existing primary care infrastructure, helping train nurses and community healthcare workers around a cluster of chronic diseases.

Efforts like this cannot succeed without a committed and diverse group of partners, including many from the private sector. Indeed, the most successful efforts are often powered by governments, NGOs and businesses working together to develop sustainable, locally-driven solutions.

About 36 million people die every year from NCDs. This number is set to increase to 52 million by 2030. That's a major challenge for the global community. Overcoming it will require an enlightened, inclusive approach that embraces and encourages partnerships among public and private organizations. The United Nations' meeting represents the opening volley in that pursuit.

A therapeutic vaccine against cancer could well be on the way. After successfully undergoing animal tests, it is all set to undergo human clinical trial in a few months.

The vaccine, developed by scientists at the National Institute of Immunology (NII) here, may prove to be a boon to those suffering from breast, ovarian, cervical, thyroid and blood cancer.

Anil Suri, who heads the team that has developed the vaccine, said it would be put to clinical trials at the Cancer Institute at Adyar in Chennai and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre in the U.S.

The trial at Sloan-Kettering would be conducted under an agreement signed between the NII and the National Cancer Institute under the U.S. government's National Institutes of Health.

Speaking to a group of journalists on the sidelines of an international conference on cancer research at the NII, Dr. Suri said the trial in Chennai would focus on cervical cancer, while that in the U.S. on ovarian cancer.

Scientific Director of the Cancer Institute in Chennai T. Rajkumar said the trial would be conducted on 18 patients with stage III cervical cancer. The institute had received one round of approval from its ethics committee, but wanted to have another clearance before applying for the green signal from the Drug Controller-General of India. The trial could start around March next.

The vaccine centres around a new cancer treatment modality called dentiritic cell therapy, in which a patient's own immune cells are used to fight cancer. These cells, which are a kind of immune cells, are present in the body in small quantity. The therapy involves taking out blood cells from the patient and processing them in the laboratory to produce the dentiritic cells in large quantities and with improved efficacy.

They will then be primed with an antigen called SPAG-9, discovered by the NII scientists and given back to the patients in the form of a vaccine.

Taj Mahal, the monument of love, was illuminated in blue light as a gesture to create awareness about diabetes on the eve of the World Diabetes Day. The foundation of Taj Mahal last night turned blue as lights, wrapped in translucent coloured paper and placed at various places in the monument, were lit. The move, permitted by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), was in response to a call by a number of organisations, including the Union Health Ministry, to create awareness about diabetes. "Turning the Taj Mahal blue was just a token gesture and neither the security nor the beauty of the monument was compromised," Superintending Engineer, ASI, Agra Circle, Indudhar Dwivedi told PTI. He said the permission to give a blue look to the Taj was restricted to the lower portion of the monument (little above the marble platform) and the dome area. The Akshardham temple in New Delhi along with the Fatehpur Sikri and Agra Fort were fully lit up yesterday, a day before the World Diabetes Day.

Over 17 million children of Bihar have been provided with deworming treatment as part of one of largest school-based efforts ever conducted in the world, which has also helped reduce absenteeism by 25 per cent. Disclosing this here today, Alissa Fishbane, managing director of Deworm the World, a global initiative in this regard, said the programme was carried out by Bihar government with technical assistance and training provided by them. The programme was implemented from February through April 2011. Bihar, she said, has a very high rate of parasitic worm infection with all school-age children at risk. Over 50 per cent of school-age children are infected in most districts, according to prevalence surveys conducted by Deworm the World. She claimed that it has helped reduce school absenteeism by as much as 25 per cent. As worm infections damage children's health, education and development, all school-age children in Bihar nearly 21 million were targeted for deworming by this programme. She said infected children are more likely to suffer from malnutrition and anaemia and research has shown that children who remain infected earn 43 per cent less as adults, and are 13 per cent less likely to be literate. During the programme, nearly 140,000 teachers throughout Bihar were trained to deliver the medication, supported by 20,000 healthcare staff trained. The programme treated children between the ages 6 and 14 through network of 67,000 government schools state-wide. Deworm the World previously supported the Government of Andhra Pradesh to launch a school-based deworming programme.

Extending his support to spreading awareness about organ donation in the country, cricketer Gautam Gambhir, leading by example, has pledged to donate his organs and also promised to speak and encourage other Indian cricketers to follow suit.

He took the pledge here on Thursday after launching 'Gift a Life' initiative - a website supported by the Apollo Transplant Institutes -- to encourage people to take a pledge for donating organs to save countless lives in the process.

"Thousands die every year for want of organs and I feel that through this initiative we can do the society good as it helps us bridge the gap between the demand for these organs and their availability, I appeal to the media to create awareness about organ donation and would like to urge everyone to make this decision to donate their organs," he said.

The cricketer also inaugurated the website www.giftalife.org, a one stop destination for all questions about organ donation where the general public can also pledge to donate their organs. He also signed a 'travelling wall' that will be taken around schools and colleges encouraging students to take the pledge.

The mission 'Gift a Life' is an endeavour to ensure that no person in India dies for want of an organ. This public awareness initiative aims to bring together information and awareness on the issue of organ donation. The website endeavours to start and then sustain a movement on organ donation and awareness.

Apollo Hospital group medical director Dr. Anupam Sibal said: "We need to create awareness about organ donation in India. While in Spain 33 per million population organ donations take place, in our country the rate is 0.1 per million population. It is now more than 15 years since the law declaring brain death came into effect in India, yet there is limited awareness that one individual can gift lives to at least eight patients with organ failure. As a clinician it really pains to lose a child for the want of an organ."

Leading specialists from Apollo Hospitals were present at the inauguration of the website to extend their support to the programme.