Moving towards universal health coverage, promoting health and wellbeing, and protecting against health emergencies are the WHO global priorities[1] that are shared by the proposed WHO European Programme of Work 2020-25.[2] The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has underlined the importance of interconnecting these strategic priorities. Of the six WHO regions, the European region is the most affected by non-communicable disease (NCD)-related morbidity and mortality[3] and the growth of the NCDs is concerning. Additionally, patients with severe obesity who require intensive care have increased patient management needs.[6] The prevention and control of NCDs have a crucial role in the COVID-19 response and an adaptive response is required to account for the needs of people with NCDs. [Extracted from the article]