Resource needs for addressing noncommunicable disease in low- and middle-income countries: current and future...

Low and middle income countries are faced with a range of challenges related to providing efficient and affordable health care. With non-communicable diseases (NCD) on the rise, there is a growing need to be able to estimate resource requirements, costs and expected impact associated with various investment strategies related to prevention and control of NCD. In this article, recently developed costing and health impact models for non-communicable disease are reviewed, with a view to drawing out their main findings as well as methodological limitations. A key shortcoming is that earlier modelling efforts have taken a vertical approach to costing, when in reality a more integrated, horizontal approach is needed in order to effectively plan for scaled-up investment and system development. We subsequently describe how the integration of an NCD module into the joint United Nations OneHealth tool will enable low- and middle-income countries to bring NCD into an integrated process for national strategic health planning.