Limited access to CVD medicines in low-income and middle-income countries: poverty is at the heart of the matter

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) pose a substantial threat to many health systems, especially in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) where they are already overstretched.1 In the past few decades, deaths from NCDs in LMICs have spiked, whereas numbers in high-income countries have stabilised.1 Worryingly, a large proportion of deaths from NCDs (29%) in LMICs occur among people younger than 60 years compared with the proportion in high-income countries (13%).1 This finding has been attributed to poor access to effective and equitable health-care services in most LMICs.