Adherence matters

摘要

Poor adherence to the treatment of chronic diseases is a worldwide problem of striking magnitude. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), adherence to long-term therapy for chronic diseases in developed world countries averages 50%. These rates are assumed to be even lower in developing world countries given poor health literacy and scarcities in health care delivery systems. Because the consequences of poor adherence to long-term therapies are poor health outcomes and increased health care costs, there is a need to examine strategies through which to improve adherence through processes that are multidisciplinary in approach and continuous in scope. The time for intervention is now, because the impact of poor adherence grows as the burden of chronic diseases grows. Non-communicable diseases and mental disorders, HIV disease, and tuberculosis combined represented 54% of the worldwide disease burden in 2001, and may exceed 65% worldwide in 2020.