Seven out of ten deaths in Latin America and the Caribbean are due to chronic diseases (such as heart disease and stroke) and injuries, and health policy makers must take urgent action to reduce this burden, say researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

In an essay in PLoS Medicine, Pablo Perel and colleagues discuss the driving forces behind this epidemic of chronic disease and injury, and argue that lack of funding for health research in the region is hindering efforts to address the crisis.