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134 Fighting the Diseases of Poverty
Figure 3 Projected death rates by specific causes for selected
countries
2005 (all ages), thousands
700 HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
Cadiovascular diseases
Nigeria
India
China
Canada
Brazil
Pakistan
Russian
United Republic
of Tanzania
United Kingdom
Federation
Source: WHO (2005a).
as a result of non-communicable diseases. Cardiovascular diseases
are one of the most significant causes of death in lower-income
countries (Figures 2 and 3).
The WHO argues that much of this disease burden is attributable
to less healthy diets and increasing physical inactivity. This may be
so, yet the global rise of chronic diseases is also partly the result of
more people living beyond middle age, thanks to greater global
economic growth and prosperity. The prevalence of chronic disease,
however, does challenge the myth that the current commercial R&D
paradigm is failing to produce drugs that meet the needs of the
global disease burden. Significant resources currently are being
deployed towards developing treatments for cancers, cardiovascular
diseases, neuropsychiatric diseases and diabetes. In fact, levels of
drug development increasingly reflect the global disease burden, so
lower-income countries therefore stand to benefit from drugs that
are currently in the R&D pipeline (Figure 4).