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'Chronicity' and chronic health conditions: implications for health and health care

Published in Globalization and Health

© Neustockimages / Getty Images / iStockEdited by Prof S Yasin, Prof P Allotey, Prof D D Reidpath, Dr C Chan (Monash University, Sunway Campus, Malaysia), Dr E Pitchforth (LSE), Dr A de-Graft Aikins (LSE & University of Ghana)

Chronic diseases are those which persist over time. Recent advances have supported increases in longevity, however many countries are struggling to find the right balance for health care financing. Chronicity affects not only the individual with the disease but also their immediate peer group and has implications for healthcare systems. In exploration into the concept of chronicity, it provides an opportunity to critique models of personal responsibility through to the health systems level and encourage the conceptualization of alternative health care delivery based on projections of chronic diseases into the future. 

This collection includes articles from researchers, academics, policy makers and practitioners involved with or interested in exploring the value of chronicity as a concept in the management of chronic health conditions in a global health context.

  1. This paper examines the challenges and opportunities in establishing and sustaining north–south research partnerships in Africa through a case study of the UK-Africa Academic Partnership on Chronic Disease. Es...

    Authors: Ama de-Graft Aikins, Daniel K Arhinful, Emma Pitchforth, Gbenga Ogedegbe, Pascale Allotey and Charles Agyemang
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2012 8:29
    Content type: Research Published on:

  5. Low and middle income countries are ageing at a much faster rate than richer countries, especially in Asia. This is happening at a time of globalisation, migration, urbanisation, and smaller families. Older pe...

    Authors: Wendy R Holmes and Jennifer Joseph
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2011 7:43
    Content type: Debate Published on:

  6. HIV was first described as a "long-wave event" in 1990, well before the advent of antiretroviral therapy (ART). The pandemic was then seen as involving three curves: an HIV curve, an AIDS curve and a curve rep...

    Authors: Stephanie A Nixon, Jill Hanass-Hancock, Alan Whiteside and Tony Barnett
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2011 7:41
    Content type: Commentary Published on:

  7. The growing caseload caused by patients with chronic life-long conditions leads to increased needs for health care providers and rising costs of health services, resulting in a heavy burden on health systems, ...

    Authors: Josefien van Olmen, Grace Marie Ku, Raoul Bermejo, Guy Kegels, Katharina Hermann and Wim Van Damme
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2011 7:38
    Content type: Debate Published on:

  8. Globally, chronic diseases are responsible for an enormous burden of deaths, disability, and economic loss, yet little is known about the optimal health sector response to chronic diseases in poor, post-confli...

    Authors: Patrick T Lee, Gina R Kruse, Brian T Chan, Moses BF Massaquoi, Rajesh R Panjabi, Bernice T Dahn and Walter T Gwenigale
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2011 7:37
    Content type: Research Published on:

  11. HIV/AIDS has always been one of the most thoroughly global of diseases. In the era of widely available anti-retroviral therapy (ART), it is also commonly recognised as a chronic disease that can be successfull...

    Authors: Christopher J Colvin
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2011 7:31
    Content type: Debate Published on:

  12. There is an emerging evidence base that global trade is linked with the rise of chronic disease in many low and middle-income countries (LMICs). This linkage is associated, in part, with the global diffusion o...

    Authors: Ronald Labonté, Katia S Mohindra and Raphael Lencucha
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2011 7:21
    Content type: Research Published on: