"If left unaddressed, [non-communicable diseases (NCDs)] will lead to more death, disability and the implosion of already overburdened health systems in developing countries at huge cost to individuals, families, businesses and society," Peter Piot, director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and former UNAIDS executive director, writes in the Huffington Post "Impact" blog, adding, "Like AIDS, NCDs are a problem for rich and poor countries alike, but the poor suffer the most." He continues, "The 2011 U.N. High-Level Meeting on NCDs -- only the second time the U.N. had convened a major meeting on a health issue, following the U.N. AIDS Summit in June 2001 -- was a landmark event in the short history of the fight against NCDs but was not a tipping point. Much more remains to be done."