Chronic diseases are now the leading cause of death and disability worldwide; this epidemic has been linked to rapid economic growth and urbanisation in developing countries. Understanding how characteristics of the physical, social, and economic environment affect behaviour in the light of these changes is key to identifying successful interventions to mitigate chronic disease risk.

India has continued to report cases of wild poliovirus and acute flaccid paralysis throughout the 2000s. Indeed, in 2009 the numbers of both exceeded the totals for 2008, by 26% and 9.5%, respectively. Confirmed wild poliovirus cases are increasingly concentrated amongst Muslim children and localised in western Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

In the competitive environment of the Southasian pharmaceutical industry, the consumer is today left with neither a guide nor a map.