Watching a slow-motion disaster unfold is a vexing public-health challenge. It is particularly frustrating when policymakers, aware of the problem, fail to respond. The histories of climate change, HIV, and famine are prominent examples of such malignant neglect—that is, “doing harm by doing nothing.”
The global burden of non-communicable disease (NCD) would, on first brush, not seem to suffer from a lack of policy activity. Recent high-level policy discussions have targeted NCDs. In 2000, ministers from 193 World Health Organization (WHO) member states adopted a Global Strategy for the prevention and control of NCDs at the World Health Assembly