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Rebecca Voelker

JAMA. 1999;281:2078.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

The dawn of the 21st century will confront health policy makers with a complex challenge, according to a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO).

The World Health Report 1999: Making a Difference traces the 20th century's health revolution that has witnessed a drop in birth rates and dramatic gains in life expectancy. Yet it points to a collision early in the next century of dual burdens of disease: emerging epidemics of noncommunicable diseases and injury, and the "unfinished agenda" of infectious diseases, malnutrition, and complications of childbirth that disproportionately affect the poor.

The report, published last month on the opening day of the World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, said such cost-effective interventions as immunizations exist to help tackle the unfinished agenda. Easing the burden of noncommunicable diseases will be more difficult. The major challenges will include ischemic heart disease, which is predicted to be the . . . [Full Text of this Article]