Lancet Series on Noncommunicable Diseases

On February 12, The Lancet published its latest Series on noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). The Series is the fourth in eight years to center exclusively on NCDs. This time around The Lancet is focused on providing country-level guidance in a post-MDG era with the overarching goal of reducing avoidable NCD deaths by 25% by the year 2025 (’25 by 25’). The Series consists of five papers on a range of topics including inequalities in NCDs, the impacts of tobacco, alcohol, and ultra-processed foods, as well as access to essential medicines for NCDs. The Series could not be timelier. The recently published Global Burden of Disease 2010 study showed a marked increase in NCD burden with nearly two out of every three deaths being NCD related. Further, the top 5 risk factors are all related to the NCD burden. The series can be accessed here.

Several members of the DCP3 Advisory Committee to the Editors (ACE) are involved with the Series including Richard Horton, Rifat Atun, and Agnes Binagwaho. DCP3 Project Director Rachel Nugent is a co-author on the first paper in the Series – “Embedding non-communicable diseases in the post-2015 development agenda”. The paper can be accessed here.

For more insight into the development of the Series as well as its importance, listen to Richard Lane interview NCD champions Professors Robert Beaglehole and Ruth Bonita here