The main health threat in developing states today is not plagues or parasites but illnesses such as cancer and diabetes, noncommunicable diseases long associated with the rich world.

In their single-minded pursuit of economic growth, China's leaders have long overlooked public health—which, by some measures, is now worse than under Mao.

The United States' commitment to helping treat HIV patients is limiting Washington's leverage over recipient countries and undermining other development goals.

Hunger remains one of world's gravest humanitarian problems, but the United States has failed to prioritize food aid and agricultural development.

Politicians have it in their power to solve the food crisis, but they must be willing to end the biases against big commercial farms and genetically modified crops and do away with farm subsidies.

The need to prepare for an influenza pandemic has not yet sunk in, partly because disaster has not yet struck. But that good news could turn into very bad news if it leads to slacking off on necessary preparations today: although no one can predict when or how, a pandemic will occur for sure, and it will have implications far beyond its toll on human health.

Why is the UN convening a summit-level meeting on illnesses like cancer and diabetes? This CFR guide looks at how these non-communicable diseases have amplified the burdens on developing states and the global threat they pose.

President Bush's AIDS initiative, reauthorized for another five years this summer, wins widespread praise even from those highly critical of other administration policies. Yet some health experts worry AIDS funding has grow disproportionately large compared with other U.S. development spending.

President Bush’s AIDS program in Africa is up for renewal. A number of health experts applaud some of its results but want to end the focus on abstinence.

Cholera in Iraq continues to spread, and experts can’t seem to get a handle on the unsanitary water responsible for making so many people sick. 

The response to virulent animal diseases is improving, but major outbreaks continue, costing the animal industry millions and increasing fears of a global pandemic.

Treatment and prevention programs show progress against the spread of HIV/AIDS, but cultural and political issues, particularly in Africa, continue to defy science.

The recent spate of contamination in the U.S. food supply, much of it traced to Chinese ingredients, has raised questions about safeguards on food imports. 

An Atlanta lawyer’s drug resistant tuberculosis infection highlights the growing prevalence of the disease.

As avian flu continues its global—and westward—spread, experts say the world remains unprepared for a possible pandemic.

With the Democrats in control of Congress, another White House policy is up for reexamination: the Bush administration’s pro-abstinence approach to the global AIDS pandemic.

Recent discoveries related to avian flu could help control a possible future pandemic, but even as the global community and individual countries develop plans to combat the virus, experts say more work needs to be done.

While avian flu makes headlines, overlooked diseases like polio and tuberculosis are making a comeback. Hurdles ranging from misinformation to lack of funding are preventing their control.