Addressing Liver Disease and Major NCDs in Global Health Policy

To advance the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly NCD Target 3.4, the Global Metabolic Health Roundtable (GMHR) session convenes policy and public health leaders to drive action on steatotic liver disease (SLD) as a major non-communicable disease (NCD) in the follow-up to the 4th United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on NCDs, which was held in September 2025. Participants at the WHS will assess gaps in policy action and discuss the human and economic burden of SLD, health system preparedness, and deficiencies in awareness, diagnosis, and models of care focusing on people with pre-existing (co-morbid) metabolic conditions. This multidisciplinary panel will discuss actionable policy interventions for metabolic health and a roadmap for the integration of SLD into NCD policies and strategies, including cost-effective, evidence-based policies ("Best-Buys") for decision-makers with an examination of the barriers hindering their adoption and implementation. The session will contribute to ongoing efforts that advance Best Buys for the spectrum of SLD on the global health policy agenda.

SLD, formerly “fatty liver disease”, is a public health threat largely unaddressed in national and global health policymaking. While metabolic dysfunction-associated liver disease (MASLD), the most prevalent liver disease in history, and its more severe form, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), affect one-in-three and one-in-twenty people, respectively, and are closely related to diabetes type 2, obesity, and cardiovascular disease, MASLD/MASH has received comparatively little attention in comparison with other NCD, which often have dedicated national and global action plans and strategies.