Excellency,

I want to start by congratulating you on your good work as President of the 73rd General Assembly.

I had the pleasure of meeting your predecessor last year and among the issues we discussed was the importance of raising awareness of neurological disorders, including spinal cord injuries. Neurological disorders are among the non-communicable deceases covered in Agenda 2030 and SDG3.

According to information from the World Health Organization (WHO), neurological disorders affect up to a billion people worldwide and remain costly for societies, both rich and poor.

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 Excellency,

I have the honor to refer to your letter dated 8 May 2019 on the importance of raising awareness of neurological disorders, including spinal cord injuries.
First, I want to commend you and Iceland's Government for your unwavering commitment to improve scientific research on such an important matter which affects communities globally.

: Since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the United Nations General Assembly has been giving a determined focus on pressing global health issues with the aim to accelerate the implementation of SDG 3. Last September, for instance, at the very beginning of my mandate, I had the honor to chair the Third High-Level Meeting on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases, which recognized that neurological conditions are an important cause of morbidity and contribute to the global non-communicable disease burden.

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