The past two decades have shown an increase in the prevalence ofnon-communicable diseases（NCD），影响高收入以及低收入和中等收入国家。实际上，63% of all deaths worldwide至少部分归功于NCD和周围three quarters of the world’s chronic disease-related deaths that year occurred in low- and middle-income countries.These countries have to contend with a dual burden of infectious and non-communicable diseases, which pose not only a health burden, but also an economic burden. Three studies published inBMC Medicinethis week explore some of these important issues.

埃塞俄比亚无家可归者的心理健康障碍

Despite being aleading cause of disability and ill health globally, mental health继续被忽略in international development and global health. These issues have been touched upon previously in aninterview和维克拉姆·帕特尔（Vikram Patel）。Mental health problems are thought to be particularly prevalent in homeless people in low-income countries due to underdeveloped social welfare and health systems. Understanding the types of mental health problems in this population can help drive policy changes to alleviate the burden.

A横断面调查was conducted among street homeless adults in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia by马丁·普林斯和colleagues to determine the burden of psychotic disorders and associated unmet needs. They found that psychosis, alcohol abuse and other mental disorders were common in street homeless people. The majority of the individuals surveyed had experienced both mental health and alcohol use disorders, which was linked to chronicity of homelessness. Therefore, strategies to improve conditions for the homeless in low-income countries should include treatment for both mental disorders and alcohol abuse.

Predictors of HIV drug adherence

Advances in HIV drug development mean that those infected with HIV are able to live a long a healthy life, with a预期寿命与普通人群没有什么不同。但是，这取决于适当的管理，其中一部分包括服用daily combination antiretroviral therapy (ART).Patient adherence to this regimen is a key predictor of HIV treatment success, therefore insight into predictors or correlates of non-adherence to ART may help to guide targets for the development of adherence enhancing interventions.

A荟萃分析conducted by Pythia Nieuwkerk and colleagues involving 170 studies explored the factors affecting adherence to ART in HIV-infected adults. The study indicated that psychological factors, including self-efficacy and belief about the necessity of ART, should be targeted to improve adherence.

Coping with diabetes in Latin America

NCD的负担日益严重，主要是由于生活方式因素，对低收入国家和中等收入国家的负担不成比例。一个这样的例子是2型糖尿病，它在Opinion本周文章，Armando Arrendondo在拉丁美洲的医疗保健系统中讨论。

鉴于2型糖尿病患病率增加的流行病学过渡，以及随后对治疗此类问题的服务需求的经济负担，拉丁美洲的医疗保健正迫切需要应对。作者强调需要将更多资源分配给预防医学而不是纯粹的治疗，并讨论在这些情况下可以实现这一目标的方法。

These articles appear in ourMedicine for Global Healtharticle collection. Later this year, BMC Medicine will be re-launching this collection with a special focus on ‘Big Risks – the challenges and opportunities in addressing the biggest global causes of premature mortality’ to highlight theleading causes of health loss in populations throughout the world。If you have any research you would like us to consider for inclusion in this article collection, please emailbmcmedicineeditorial@biomedcentral.com

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