Disease

Section Editor: Manisha Kulkarni, University of Ottawa, Canada
Deputy Section Editors: Alessandra Ferrario, Harvard Medical School, USA and Fiona Cianci, Health Service Executive, Dublin, Ireland

Diseases increasingly have cross-border causes and consequences. Global health security has become a foreign policy issue for many countries, linked to risks of pandemic influenza, and XDR (extreme drug resistant) and AMR (antimicrobial resistant) infections; and affected by weak health systems, population movements and lack of access to medicines. Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) have recently become foci for international cooperation, policy/program development and knowledge sharing. ‘Vectors’ (social determinants) for NCDs include such globalization-related pathways as trade (and trade treaties), foreign investment (and investment treaties), and economic growth and urbanization associated with global economic integration. Most papers submitted to this journal are presumed to utilize some health data; papers submitted under this topic will have either (one or more) infectious disease or NCD as their particular focus, applying epidemiological or other research methods to examine the magnitude, distribution and globalization-related risk factors affecting their prevalence, severity and/or population distribution.