Benchmarking of national policies for the prevention of noncommunicable diseases: A Scoping Review

Introduction Each year, approximately 18 million people die prematurely from non-communicable diseases (NCDs) worldwide, many of which could be prevented through effective policies targeting modifiable risk factors. Despite strong evidence supporting the effectiveness of policies, major gaps remain in their adoption and implementation. Benchmarking national policies against international standards helps identify implementation gaps and opportunities for improvement. This study systematically reviewed existing benchmarking initiatives assessing and comparing national policies to reduce modifiable risk factors for NCDs. Methods We conducted a scoping review in accordance with the recommendations by the Joanna Briggs Institute and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) checklist. We applied a multi-stage search strategy, including a citation search based on literature known to the authors and identified through expert consultation (April-June 2025), a complementing AI-assisted search (July 2025), and a targeted search via PubMed (February 2026). Results A total of 243 full texts were screened, and 89 reports representing 16 benchmarking initiatives were included. Six initiatives assessed strategies to reduce harmful alcohol use, while three initiatives each focused on tobacco use, unhealthy diets, and physical inactivity. Only the World Health Organization’s NCD Progress Monitor addressed all four major risk factors. It comprises eleven indicators and is based on government self-reports supplemented by data from the World Health Organization. None of the identified initiatives enabled a comprehensive benchmarking and ranking of national strategies across all four major NCD risk factors based on objective data. Conclusions This scoping review provides a more nuanced understanding of current benchmarking efforts in NCD prevention and serves as a foundation for the development of a comprehensive, overarching NCD prevention index.