Appropriate Responses to Selected Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases in Low and Middle Income countries: A focus on South Africa

With a growing prevalence of chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) occurring around the globe, concerted public health actions are needed to reduce the associated morbidity and mortality burden. Primary prevention is rightly being emphasized but current responses largely focus on promoting individual lifestyle changes to reduce NCD risk such as eating healthier foods, maintaining good levels of physical activity, reducing alcohol intake and decreasing exposure to tobacco. In this paper, we argue that this latter emphasis is inappropriate and suggest that real gains in NCD reduction will only be achieved through structural changes that require at policy level interventions.