President Mugabe returned home from Uruguay yesterday after attending the World Health Organisation Global Conference on Non-Communicable Diseases, a meeting that culminated in him being named a WHO Goodwill Ambassador.

NCDs are chronic diseases that cannot be passed from person to person, and include chronic respiratory and cardiovascular conditions, cancer and diabetes.

 The President — who was accompanied by ministers Dr Walter Mzembi (Foreign Affairs) and Dr David Parirenyatwa (Health and Child Care) —was welcomed at Harare International Airport by Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Also there to welcome President Mugabe were ministers Dr Sydney Sekeramayi (Defence), Happyton Bonyongwe (Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs), Dr Joram Gumbo (Transport and Infrastructure Development) and Miriam Chikukwa (Harare Provincial Affairs); Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Dr Misheck Sibanda, and other senior Government officials and service chiefs.