Many assume that further health improvements will be difficult for countries that have entered an era of chronic non-communicable diseases and life expectancies that are already above 70 years. If life expectancy is lower, it is possible to make gigantic strides given modest resources. (Correspondence)

Data, transformed through aggregation and analysis into useful information, are key elements for decision making. This notion is true in general and has become a precept for promotion of health and control of disease. Tobacco use globally is the main preventable contributor to poor health and premature death.1 In The Lancet, Gary Giovino and colleagues2 describe the acquisition of high-quality data for tobacco use from 14 countries through the employment of well-designed and well-implemented surveys, the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS), with 16 countries studied in total.

Data from different national and regional surveys show that hypertension is common in developing countries, particularly in urban areas, and that rates of awareness, treatment, and control are low. Several hypertension risk factors seem to be more common in developing countries than in developed regions. Findings from serial surveys show an increasing prevalence of hypertension in developing countries, possibly caused by urbanisation, ageing of population, changes to dietary habits, and social stress.

A recent ruling by Germany's Supreme Court has caused a public storm over the ethical conduct of doctors and drug companies in the country. Rob Hyde reports from Hamburg.

The Indian Government is planning to launch a new urban health-care programme in its latest step towards universal health-care coverage in the country. Soumyadeep Bhaumik reports.

Technically feasible and cost-effective interventions exist to reduce maternal, newborn, and child mortality. This potential has not been fully realised due to the failure of health systems to improve the delivery and uptake of these priority interventions, particularly amongst the most vulnerable women and children. Underfunded investments in maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) are part of the impediment, but unspent funds in a diversity of resource-constrained settings reflect a common problem of low absorptive capacity and the challenges of implementation at the local level.

Despite the availability of effective interventions and public recognition of the severity of the problem, rabies continues to suffer neglect by programme planners in India and other low and middle income countries. We investigate whether this state of ‘policy impasse’ is due to, at least in part, the research community not catering to the information needs of the policy makers.

WHO and partners hope that they can fi nally rid the world of polio. But insurgency, Taliban-initiated boycotts, and a US$1 billion funding defi cit will not make it an easy task. Dara Mohammadi reports.

Obesity is a significant public health issue. Marion Nestle spoke with Ben Jones about calories and why anti-obesity measures must prevail.