Risk factors such as tobacco use, ageing populations, and climate change mean the number of cases with common respiratory diseases will continue to rise worldwide. Couple this upward trajectory in incidence and morbidity with increasing health care costs and diminishing health care budgets, together with brutal cuts to clinical research, and it makes a depressing picture. These diseases must therefore be a priority on international and national agendas if current and future needs of patients are to be met. Some strides have been made with recent high level UN meetings on non-communicable diseases, but with 80% of the case burden of respiratory diseases seen in low and middle income countries, and the spiralling cost of drugs and critical care in high income countries, the time has come to complement these efforts with new initiatives. Therefore to help raise the profile of respiratory medicine, and facilitate the reporting of research that will impact on patients' lives. The Lancet Respiratory Medicine will launch in early 2013. The journal is issuing a call for research papers.
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