Q&A: Learning from Asian countries to control the leading global cause of death

The leading causes of deaths worldwide are diseases that are not acquired through infection from other people but through a combination of individual physiology and lifestyle, the so-called “noncommunicable diseases” (NCDs). Diabetes, most cancers and most heart diseases are examples, and they disproportionally affect low- and middle-income countries, where they are on a dramatic rise because of unhealthy lifestyles and insufficient health care.