In May 2010, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) that called for high-level meetings to address the global burden of NCDs. This paper highlights the growing global burden of NCDs (cardiovascular diseases, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases and diabetes), provides a brief historical background on the adoption o...

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) have become leading causes of mortality and morbidity as part of historical epidemiological, demographic and nutritional transitions. There has been considerable historical analysis of the immediate and underlying causes of this change in the impacts of communicable diseases and NCDs, but far less historical analysis of how this transition has shaped medical pra...

BACKGROUND The reasons of deaths in developing countries are shifting from communicable diseases towards non-communicable diseases (NCDs). At the same time the number of health care interventions using mobile phones (mHealth interventions) is growing rapidly. We review studies assessing the health-related impacts of mHealth on NCDs in low- and middle-income countries (LAMICs). METHODS A syste...

With rapidly increasing globalization, trends towards unhealthy diets, obesity, sedentary lifestyles and unhealthy habits are resulting in an increased worldwide burden of chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs). In Africa this means that health systems face the challenge of an increasing burden of NCDs and of continuing high morbidity and mortality from communicable diseases. This health tran...

The global sanitation divide is narrowing. However, in many countries in Asia and Africa, the gap between rural and urban sanitation coverage is rather widening. Moreover, there is an increase in the burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), notwithstanding to the already high burden of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). A scientific query is building on how the global 'sanitation for all' g...

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs, e.g., cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases, neurological diseases) have been the commonest cause of death and disability globally for at least the last three decades [1]. Even in sub-Saharan Africa, NCDs contribute a third of the disability-adjusted life year burden. However, research resources allocated to NCDs in lowand middl...

BACKGROUND About 80% of deaths from non-communicable diseases (NCDs) occur in developing countries such as Kenya. However, not much is known about the burden of NCDs in slums, which account for about 60% of the residences of the urban population in Kenya. This study examines trends in NCD mortality from two slum settings in Nairobi. DESIGN We use verbal autopsy data on 1954 deaths among adult...

Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are a global challenge. During the next several decades, NCDs will govern the health care needs of populations in most lowand middle-income countries because of declines in communicable diseases, conditions related to childbirth and nutrition, changes in lifestyle factors (eg, smoking), and population aging (1). We examined the burden of NCDs in the Hashemite Kin...