Chronic, or non-communicable, diseases have traditionally been considered more of a health problem for wealthy states than developing countries. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), however, in 2008 80% of deaths from chronic diseases took place in states with middle and low...

Background The use of self-reported measures of chronic disease may substantially underestimate prevalence in low-income and middle-income country settings, especially in groups with lower socioeconomic status (SES). We sought to determine whether socioeconomic inequalities in the prevalence of...

Global health scholarship has failed to adequately consider the “BRIC” cluster of nations - Brazil, Russia, India and China - particularly in the aggregate. An article search with the keywords “BRIC” and “public health” yields just one publication. But these countries have a unique...

A growing number of countries are moving to scale up interventions for prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV in maternal and child health services. Similarly, many are working to improve access to paediatric HIV treatment. This paper reviews national programme data for...

The World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) – the world’s first and only global health treaty – seeks to address the enormous challenges stemming from tobacco use, including nearly six million deaths annually. In force since early 2005, more than 175...

Background: Access to affordable inhaled medicines for chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs) is severely limited in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) causing avoidable morbidity and mortality. The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease convened a stakeholder meeting on...

Despite economic growth and increased global commitment to health financing in the past decades, the health needs of some of the world's most vulnerable people remain overlooked. In particular, middle-income countries (MICs) often face the conundrum of receiving reduced development assistance...