World Health Organization member states have committed to reducing premature deaths from non-communicable disease by 25% by 2025. Interventions to reduce risk factors including tobacco use, physical inactivity, high blood pressure and obesity that prove safe and efficacious in randomized controlled trials commonly fail when implemented on a broader scale. This challenge to translation is particularly pronounced in low- and middle-income countries, which bear an increasing burden of non-communicable disease. In this month's Editorial, Anushka Patel and Ruth Webster, both of The George Institute for Global Health, discuss strategies to maximize knowledge gain in pragmatic randomized controlled trials (pRCT), which test the effectiveness of health interventions under "real-world" conditions.
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Editorial
Pragmatic Trials for Noncommunicable Diseases: Relieving Constraints
PLOS Medicine: published March 29, 2016 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001986
Essays
Compassionate and Proactive Interventions by Health Workers in the United Kingdom: A Better Approach to Prevent and Respond to Female Genital Mutilation?
PLOS Medicine: published March 22, 2016 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001982
Trans-Pacific Partnership Provisions in Intellectual Property, Transparency, and Investment Chapters Threaten Access to Medicines in the US and Elsewhere
PLOS Medicine: published March 8, 2016 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001970
Antibiotic Resistance in India: Drivers and Opportunities for Action
PLOS Medicine: published March 2, 2016 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001974
Policy Forums
The Community As the Patient in Malaria-Endemic Areas: Preempting Drug Resistance with Multiple First-Line Therapies
PLOS Medicine: published March 29, 2016 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001984
An Uninformative Truth: The Logic of Amarin’s Off-Label Promotion
PLOS Medicine: published March 15, 2016 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001978
Collection Review
Translational Research for Tuberculosis Elimination: Priorities, Challenges, and Actions
PLOS Medicine: published March 2, 2016 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001965
Research Articles
Comparison of the Schwartz and CKD-EPI Equations for Estimating Glomerular Filtration Rate in Children, Adolescents, and Adults: A Retrospective Cross-Sectional Study
PLOS Medicine: published March 29, 2016 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001979
Performance of the GeneXpert Ebola Assay for Diagnosis of Ebola Virus Disease in Sierra Leone: A Field Evaluation Study
PLOS Medicine: published March 29, 2016 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001980
Increased Duration of Paid Maternity Leave Lowers Infant Mortality in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Quasi-Experimental Study
PLOS Medicine: published March 29, 2016 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001985
Global Role and Burden of Influenza in Pediatric Respiratory Hospitalizations, 1982–2012: A Systematic Analysis
PLOS Medicine: published March 24, 2016 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001977
Related Articles
Planned Repeat Cesarean Section at Term and Adverse Childhood Health Outcomes: A Record-Linkage Study
PLOS Medicine: published March 15, 2016 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001973
Routine Pediatric Enterovirus 71 Vaccination in China: a Cost-Effectiveness Analysis
PLOS Medicine: published March 15, 2016 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001975
Related Articles
Cardiovascular and Renal Outcomes of Renin–Angiotensin System Blockade in Adult Patients with Diabetes Mellitus: A Systematic Review with Network Meta-Analyses
PLOS Medicine: published March 8, 2016 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001971
Related Articles
Length of Stay After Childbirth in 92 Countries and Associated Factors in 30 Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Compilation of Reported Data and a Cross-sectional Analysis from Nationally Representative Surveys
PLOS Medicine: published March 8, 2016 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001972
Experimental Treatment with Favipiravir for Ebola Virus Disease (the JIKI Trial): A Historically Controlled, Single-Arm Proof-of-Concept Trial in Guinea
PLOS Medicine: published March 1, 2016 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001967