Over the past 20 years, the world has experienced a public health transition that has profound
ramifications for governments, non-government Organisations (NGOs) and other stakeholders
working in health and international development. As is shown by their exclusion from the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs), non-communicable diseases (NCDs) were barely on the health and
development agenda in low and middle income countries (LMICs) in the year 2000. NCDs are
now, however, recognised as the world’s major cause of death and disability. The Global Burden of
Disease (GBD) study, the most authoritative source of estimates on causes of death and disability,
found that in 2010 NCDs accounted globally for approximately 65.5% of all deaths, and 54% of
disability-adjusted life years (DALYs).