Prevention is global health community's greatest challenge in fight against chronic diseases

Sep 17 2011

David Watkins, a resident physician in the Department of Medicine and the Internal Medicine Global Health Pathway at the University of Washington, and Jim LoGerfo, a professor of Medicine and Global Health at the university, write in a Seattle Times opinion piece, "A new pandemic has emerged and is beginning to overshadow all others," adding, "The chronic-disease pandemic will be the 'face' of global health in the coming decades ... an insidious pandemic for those who are affected, causing slow and subtle declines in health over years." They write, "In addition to providing cost-effective medicines for hypertension, diabetes and high cholesterol, the prevention of cases will be our greatest challenge. Chronic diseases require large public-health interventions and improvements to primary health-care systems" (9/15).