Noncommunicable Diseases and the Uses of World Health Magazine 1958-1998

World Health magazine served as the World Health Organization's (WHO) flagship "popular" publication from 1958 to 1998. It played a central role in the organization's public information and education work, which aimed to inform readers about existing and emergent health concerns, as well as promoting WHO's programmatic response to these. Drawing on analysis of the magazine's coverage of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) as one such emergent concern, this article explores how the diseases and the "risk factors" that came to be bound to them were presented in and through the magazine. This rich archive shows that WHO's concern with NCDs has a far longer provenance than often acknowledged. Moreover, with the magazine serving as a health promotion tool, its NCD coverage also sheds light on the complexities of educating the public and generating compelling narratives around NCD prevention and control.