Avoiding the poverty traps from chronic disease

less than a fundamental realignment of the global order. Current income growth in these countries is paired with a rapid demographic and epidemiologic transition. The aging population and the increasing prevalence of chronic noncommunicable diseases (such as heart attack, stroke, diabetes mellitus, respiratory diseases and cancer) pose considerable challenges to the weak health care systems in these countries. The emerging threats from chronic diseases have not just major health implications, but also economic and financial costs. Here, we argue that much of the chronic disease occurring in Asia is avoidable, that chronicdisease control reduces poverty and finally that creation of epidemiologic and clinical evidence that enables such control is a global, not only an Asian, challenge.