Addressing the global Challenge of NCDs using a Risk Factor approach: voices from around the world.

Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are growing at an alarming rate around the world, drawing attention in multiple United Nations high-level meetings, the Sustainable Development Goals, regional alliances for NCDs, and in scientific research agendas. In 2018, the World NCD Federation selected the University of Michigan from seven universities around the world to host the 2nd World NCD Congress in 2020. For the scientific program, we defined an intersecting matrix of "risk factors" and "disease-oriented" lenses for examining NCDs to highlight the multiple risk factors that contribute to major NCDs.