BACKGROUND: The reduction by a third of premature non communicable disease NCD mortality by 2030 is the ambitious target of Sustainable Development Goal SDG 3.4. ...Some countries, the most populous examples being Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, Uzbekistan, Haiti, Mongolia, Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Ukraine, Laos, and Egypt, reported both an upward trend and high levels of premature avertable mortality from NCDs. ...