Delivering efficacious and inexpensive health interventions leads to dramatic reductions in mortality and disability at modest cost. Globalization has been diffusing the knowledge about what these interventions are and how to deliver them. The pace of this diffusion into a country—more than its level of income—determines the tempo of health improvement in that country.

Priorities in Health aims to speed the diffusion of life-saving knowledge.

This companion volume to Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries, 2nd edition (DCP2) facilitates access to DCP2, synthesizes many of the book's major themes and findings, and helps readers identify chapters of greatest interest to them. With this guide, policy makers, practitioners, academics, and the members of the interested public will learn about DCP2's main messages, gain an understanding of its principal methods of analysis, appreciate the scope of major diseases, and be alerted to the most cost-effective interventions.

These two books, as well as the Global Burden of Disease and Risk Factors , are the result of the work of the Disease Control Priorities Project (DCPP), initiated in 2002 by the Fogarty International Center (FIC) of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, the World Bank, the World Health Organization, and, more recently, the Population Reference Bureau. The project was largely funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. DCPP's purpose is to review, generate, and disseminate population health information for use by low- and middle-income countries and national and international organizations as they develop and refine their own health priorities to decrease disease burdens locally and globally.

Contents

• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations and Acronyms
• Chapter 1. Accomplishments, Challenges, and Priorities
  • Historical Achievements in World Health
  • Accounting for Health Gains
  • Health and Economic Growth
  • Equity
  • An Agenda for Action
  • Putting DCP2 to Use
  • This Volume
• Chapter 2. Success in Addressing Priorities
  • Successes Despite Weak Health Systems
  • Successes That Strengthened Weak Health Systems
  • Cost-Effective Interventions Aimed at Building Health Systems
  • Cost-Effective Interventions That Furthered Existing Health Systems
  • Cost-Effective Interventions Beyond Health Systems
  • Conclusion
• Chapter 3. Cost-Effectiveness Analysis
  • Why Use Cost-Effectiveness Analysis?
  • What Is Cost-Effectiveness Analysis?
  • How Reliable Is Cost-Effectiveness Analysis?
  • What Are Appropriate Tasks for Cost-Effectiveness Analysis?
  • How Can Policy Makers Use Cost-Effectiveness Analysis?
  • Summary for Using Cost-Effectiveness Analysis Properly
• Chapter 4. Cost-Effective Strategies for the Excess Burden of Disease in Developing Countries
  • Infectious and Communicable Diseases
  • Maternal and Neonatal Health
• Chapter 5. Cost-Effective Strategies for Noncommunicable Diseases, Risk Factors, and Behaviors
  • Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes, High Blood Pressure, Cholesterol, and Bodyweight
  • Cancer
  • Congenital and Developmental Disorders
  • Unintentional Injuries
  • Tobacco Use
  • Alcohol Abuse
  • Mental Health
  • Conclusion
• Chapter 6. Providing Interventions
  • Levels of Care
  • Cross-Level Services and Inputs
  • Integration of Services Across the Life Cycle
• Chapter 7. Pillars of the Health System
  • Information, Surveillance, and Research
  • Management of Health Services
  • Human Resources
  • Financing
• Chapter 8. The Way Forward: A Blueprint for Action
• References
• Appendixes
  • About the Editors
  • Advisory Committee to the Editors
  • Contributing Writers
  • Table of Contents, Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries, 2nd edition
  • Table of Contents, Global Burden of Disease and Risk Factors
  • Photo Credits

This volume was funded in part by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and is a product of the staff of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank, the World Health Organization, and the Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this volume do not necessarily reflect the views of the Executive Directors of The World Bank or the governments they represent, the World Health Organization, or the Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health.

The World Bank, the World Health Organization, and the Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health do not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply any judgement on the part of The World Bank, the World Health Organization, or the Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries.