"Cancers, cardiovascular diseases, chronic lung diseases and diabetes -- four of the biggest killers among the group together known as non-communicable diseases (NCDs) -- have emerged as one of the greatest social and economic development challenges of this century," George Alleyne, director emeritus of PAHO, and Nils Daulaire, director of the Office of Global Affairs at the Department of Health & Human Services and the U.S. representative on the WHO's Executive Board, write in the Huffington Post's "Impact" blog. "On the first anniversary of the United Nations High-Level Meeting on NCDs where the world formally acknowledged the urgent need for action on these under-recognized diseases, it makes sense to assess how far we've come, as well as how much further we need to go," they continue, adding, "During the past 12 months, health workers, policymakers and activists rallied around the High-Level Meeting to build a robust civil society movement, which has continued to gather momentum."