The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 279 No 7479 p580
24 November 2007

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Consensus on research and policy priorities for chronic diseases published in Nature

An international panel has developed a list of 20 research and policy priorities relating to chronic, non-communicable diseases, such as diabetes, stroke and heart disease. It is published this week in Nature (2007;450:494).

Scientists from organisations including the Medical Research Council, Oxford Health Alliance and the US National Institutes of Health developed the list after consultation with 155 panel members across 50 nations.

The consensus includes recommendations to allocate resources within health systems based on burden of disease, to study and assess how poverty increases risk factors, to make business a key partner in promoting health and to promote healthy lifestyle and consumption choices through education.

The authors point out that chronic, non-communicable diseases account for around 60 per cent of deaths worldwide, with 80 per cent of the fatalities occurring in low-and middle-income countries.

“[Chronic non-communicable diseases] must urgently receive more resources, research and attention, in proportion to the burden of disease as mapped out in these [priorities],” said Stig Pramming, executive director, Oxford Health Alliance. He added that inaction will offset the gains from a decreasing burden of infectious diseases.