SciDev.Net
Science and Development Network
News, views and information about science, technology and the developing world
Search Archive
Key Documents archive results 1-18 of 18 in Health and Chronic diseases
Health system reform in China
This series of commentaries and research articles -- published by The Lancet, the Peking University Health Sciences Centre and the China Medical Board -- addresses China's major health challenges, strategies and future. It has been produced by a group of 63 scientists from 10 countries with Chinese...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: October 2008 | EN
Expanding priorities — confronting chronic disease in countries with low income
Cardiovascular disease accounts for 30% of deaths worldwide and 10% of all years of healthy life lost to disease, and the figures are nearly as high in developing countries -- 27 per cent and 9 per cent respectively. This compares with 10% of lives lost worldwide from HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria put...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: January, 2007 | EN
Therapeutic vaccination for chronic diseases: a new class of drugs in sight
Vaccination for infectious diseases is a vital method of prophylaxis, and has transformed modern medicine. By contrast, research into vaccines against chronic diseases has been less successful, in part because of the increased complexity involved. In this opinion piece, the authors outline the...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: January, 2004 | EN
Achieving the millennium development goals: does mental health play a role?
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) practically define health efforts in the 21st century, but they virtually ignore non-communicable diseases such as mental health, say these authors. This is despite evidence that mental health disorders are among the most important cause of sickness and...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: September 2007 | EN
What is the best approach to treating schizophrenia in developing countries?
Schizophrenia is relatively rare -- affecting 1% of the world's population -- but is arguably one of the most severe mental illnesses. Diagnosing and treating it can be hard enough in developed countries; the challenges are magnified in developing nations with inadequate health systems; few trained...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: June 2007 | EN
Cancer control: knowledge into action
In 2005, the World Health Assembly called on WHO member states to tackle their growing rates of cancer by developing rigorous cancer control programmes. To help guide the process, the WHO developed a series of six modules that provide practical advice for programme managers and policy-makers on how...
KEY DOCUMENT | EN
The challenge of cancer control in Africa
Worldwide, cancer kills more people than HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB put together. In developing countries where chronic diseases are now growing alongside infectious diseases, new strategies need to be developed. This article outlines how to develop an effective cancer strategy in African...
KEY DOCUMENT | EN
Grand challenges in chronic non-communicable diseases
In 2003, the Gates foundation infused new vigour into global health efforts by declaring that the 21st century's "grand challenges" included developing new vaccines and overcoming drug resistance. This new grand challenges initiative, launched by a collaboration of top global chronic disease...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: November 2007 | EN
Obesity and diabetes in the developing world — a growing challenge
Global health experts have watched with increasing alarm as the waistlines of people in developing countries have started to widen with the adoption of a "Western" lifestyle. Obesity is of such concern because of its heightened risks for other diseases, such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. ...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: January 2007 | EN
World Health Statistics 2008 report
This report is the WHO's official record of data produced by its technical programmes and regional offices in close consultation with countries and in collaboration with researchers and development agencies. The WHO produces the statistics to provide an evidence base for strategies to improve...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: May 2008 | EN
Research capacity for mental health in low- and middle-income countries: Results of a mapping project
This joint publication between the World Health Organization and the Global Forum for Health Research reveals mental health research capacity in 114 low-income and middle-income countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean. The extensive review identified over 10,000 articles,...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: 2007 | EN
The SuRF Reports
These consist of two reports: SuRF1(Surveillance of risk factors related to non-communicable diseases: current status of global data) and SuRF2 (Surveillance of chronic disease risk factors: country-level data and comparable estimates). These reports are the result of a large WHO project to set...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: 2003 & 2005 | EN
Lancet chronic disease series
This series of five articles outlines new challenges and unsolved problems since the journal's last series in 2005. The first articlehttp://www.scidev.net/uploads/File/pdffiles/Lancet_series1.pdf ([189kB]) predicts the disease burden and economic losses that developing countries would face from...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: December 2007 | EN
Projections of Global Mortality and Burden of Disease from 2002 to 2030
1990 saw the first major effort to estimate the main causes of illness and the biggest killer diseases in different countries. The data are important for public-health officials to allocate their resources wisely but also for feeding into estimates to plan for the future. Importantly, these need to...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: January 2005 | EN
The burden of non-communicable diseases in developing countries
The WHO has provided its own estimates of how non-communicable diseases are set to rise in developing countries. These authors pool data from national registries and international databases to compare data on the differing burden from individual diseases. They outline the risk factors associated...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: January 2005 | EN
Rethinking the "Diseases of Affluence" Paradigm: Global Patterns of Nutritional Risks in Relation to Economic Development
Cardiovascular diseases are set to rise dramatically in developing countries, partly because of an increase in risk factors for the diseases, which include diet, physical activity, smoking. The authors looked at cardiovascular disease risks such as being overweight or obese, systolic blood...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: May 2005 | EN
Chronic disease: an economic perspective
Chronic diseases -- heart and lung disease, cancer and diabetes -- are having a negative economic impact on both the developed and developing world, says this report, which is why they should be properly addressed by domestic and international policy makers. Compared to the epidemiological evidence...
KEY DOCUMENT | EN
Preventing chronic diseases: a vital investment
This extensive report was one of the first to document the scale of the problem of chronic diseases in developing countries, and crucially, to offer guidance on feasible and practical methods of tackling them. The document starts by laying out in detail the profiles of chronic diseases in...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: October 2005 | EN
Information Services
Missed the Global Health Forum 2009?
Our blog, by SciDev.Net columnist Priya Shetty, will fill you in, as will our interview with the Global Forum's Gill Samuels
