Introduction

South Asia has roughly about a fourth of the world's population. Nearly 50 percent live below the poverty line. Overall, South Asia is relatively more disease and disability prone along with Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean regions, with life expectancy at birth, healthy life expectancy at birth and neonatal mortality rate being second worst only to Africa. The region has significant variation in terms of disease susceptibility prevalence, transmission and prevention. Nearly all countries show increasing vulnerability to noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), mostly due to lifestyle choices and pre-existing genetic dispositions. Rather surprisingly, NCDs cause about 60 percent of all deaths in the region and South Asia also accounts for nearly 50 percent of the global incidence of death due to such diseases. The susceptibility to communicable diseases (CDs), or infectious diseases, varies tremendously depending on environmental, public infrastructure and health constraints. CDs are responsible for the overwhelming majority (more than two-thirds) of deaths in children (aged under 5 years) in the region.

Many health officials and organizations expect these trends in CD prevalence and spread to continue and increase in the future. According to World Health Organization (WHO) projections the region will be one of two (the other being Africa) with marked increases in CDs; South Asia will surpass Africa in terms of mortality associated with certain diseases such as hepatitis B and C and dengue.