ABSTRACT
The burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is transitioning from high income to low and middle income countries at a rapid pace due to the twin processes of globalisation and development and is now considered the leading cause of death globally. Patient safety meanwhile has, until recently, mainly focused on health care in clinical settings and not considered the importance of working upstream in health systems to prevent ill health or considered the need to tackle the broader, structural determinants of health. The World Health Organisation (WHO), however, has now taken the lead in arguing for the need to tackle health problems upstream through a health systems perspective with more of a focus on primary health care systems, communities and context. This chapter uniquely progresses this approach through a case study of the Pacific region and contends that there is a need to understand and tackle the drivers of NCDs through an international development perspective.
