Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death worldwide. CVD is a noncommunicable disease (NCD), and other major NCDs include cancer, diabetes, and chronic lung disease. These four groups of NCDs (led by CVD) are responsible for approximately three-fourths of all deaths globally. The majority of these deaths, including deaths that occur prematurely, are in low- and middle-income countries where the NCD/CVD death rate has been burgeoning since the latter part of the twentieth century. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations (UN) recognize that the rapid rise of NCDs represent a major health challenge to global development. This chapter describes the initiatives from these two groups designed to better recognize and treat NCDs and reverse the premature mortality from them. The WHO developed a global strategy for the prevention and control of NCDs with an overarching mortality goal to achieve a 25% relative reduction in risk of premature mortality from NCDs by 2025 (later changed to 2030 in accord with the UN). The UN goal to “ensure healthy lives and promote well-being” is a part of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and has a target to reduce by one-third premature mortality from NCDs by 2030.