Abstract
Papua New Guinea does not fit the more usual profile of the double disease burden. The phrase applies to developing countries that shoulder a growing load of new chronic noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) in addition to the burden of old infectious diseases (Marshall 2004: 556; WHO 2007: 14; WHO 2010a: 2). To use the World Banks classification of countries into high, upper-middle, lower-middle and low income (though income is not the only criterion of development), this double burden is particularly pronounced in the lower-middle income aggregation. Here about two-thirds of deaths are caused by NCDs but about one-quarter are still caused by infectious diseases, together with nutritional and perinatal conditions (WHO 2011a: 10). Today most of humanity lives in countries that fall within this income classification, which includes the first and second most populous nations in the world, China and India, plus fourth-placed Indonesia. It also includes Papua New Guinea (PNG).1
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Health Transitions and the Double Disease Burden in Asia and the Pacific |
| Subtitle of host publication | Histories of Responses to Non-Communicable and Communicable Diseases |
| Publisher | Taylor and Francis |
| Pages | 252-278 |
| Number of pages | 27 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9780203095140 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Jan 2012 |