What are the priorities for prevention and control of non-communicable diseases and injuries in sub-Saharan Africa and South East Asia?

The millennium development goals adopted in 2000 laid down a core development agenda to which key international partners have since closely adhered, while a special session of the UN General Assembly held in 2001 on HIV/AIDS paved the way for a large and sustained international response to that emerging epidemic.1 Ten years on, high level delegates recently attended a second special session of the UN General Assembly on health, this time to discuss what to do about the rising epidemic of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and how to integrate them into future development activities.2

A key issue for debate—both for delegates at the summit and for subsequent roll-out by countries—concerns the policies and strategies that could or should form the backbone of a renewed commitment to tackling non-communicable disease. Several criteria influence the selection of global or national strategies for prevention and control, including the current and projected burden of disease, cost effectiveness, fairness, and feasibility of implementing interventions, and political considerations. We have conducted a series of analyses focusing on cost effectiveness of interventions (see bmj.com).3 4 5 6 7 8 Here we draw together our findings with a view to identifying those strategies that offer the best value for money in tackling non-communicable diseases and injury in low income settings. The analyses complement an earlier BMJ series on the cost effectiveness of interventions focused on attainment of the millennium development goals.9