Policy depot: a tool to build global capacity in cardiovascular health policy.

Noncommunicable diseases (NCD)––cardiovascular diseases (CVD), diabetes mellitus, cancer, and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases––account for two-thirds of death and disability, globally, every year [1]. CVD alone, including coronary artery and cerebrovascular disease, accounts for 30% of the global burden of disease. As many lowand middle-income countries (LMIC) progress through the epidemiologic transition and life expectancy increases, they are also undergoing globalization as well as economic reform [2,3]. This globalization, which is coupled with urbanization and modernization, contributes to changes in the lifestyle and behavior of people living in LMIC and emerging economies (such as the former Soviet Union and Eastern European countries). These factors play a role in the heavy burden of NCD, as much as 80%, that now occurs in these countries [3]. Over the last three decades, a long list of heart health declarations and policy documents (Table 1) have articulated and emphasized public policy as a means of CVD prevention and control [4–37]. The policies and programs described in these documents, many of which deal with health education and environmental change, have played important roles in the prevention and control of heart disease and stroke in high-income countries, providing resources and authority for essential public health functions to be mobilized. Such policies and programs could be tailored in a culturally appropriate and context-specific manner to suit any country’s efforts to reduce the burden of CVD and other