Most of the 5 million deaths occurring every year from epidemics of the major infectious diseases—such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and viral hepatitis—occur in low- and middle-income countries. At the same time, 80 per cent of the deaths in 2013 from non-communicable diseases—such as cardiovascular disease, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes—occurred in low- and middle-income countries. Lack of access to essential medicines is one of the contributing factors to these deaths, many of which were preventable.