The Columbus effect: the donor community's "discovery" of non communicable diseases.

On 28-29 April, 2011 the First Global Ministerial on Healthy Lifestyles and Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) convened in Moscow to galvanize support and provide policy guidance for the forthcoming UN High-Level Meeting on NCDs in September 2011. Subsequently, the World Health Organization (WHO) drafted the "Moscow Declaration", placing itself at the global epicentre of NCD prevention and control, working collaboratively with its sole client in Member States, ministries of public health. The Declaration took no note of the extensive and ongoing activities of developing country owned and operated hospitals in the developing world and their clinical participation in NCD prevention and care for the past four decades.

Safeguarding against substandard/counterfeit drugs: mitigating a macroeconomic pandemic.

Background: Counterfeiting and the sale of substandard pharmaceutical products can no longer be ignored. At 10% of global trade, counterfeiting is affecting many countries, causing serious downstream expenses and resource shortages.

Objective: To describe the nature and impact of drug product counterfeiting and substandard product sale and to present strategies that may have value in ameliorating these phenomena.