Introduction to special edition:The challenge of chronic non-communicable disease and the opportunity for transforming health care through primary care based population health management

China shares with the United States an epidemic of chronic,non-communicable disease,with rising rates of cardiovascular disease and metabolic disorders in particular.The rising prevalence of these conditions results in great human suffering,lost productivity,high utilization of medical services and associated health care costs[1].The first section of this special edition,“The Chronic Disease Challenge for General Practitioners”highlights the extent of this problem in China.The study by Wu and Jian[2]duplicated the results of other studies showing high prevalence of hypertension,low patient awareness and lack of treatment.Strand et al.[3]found high prevalence of cardiovascular and metabolic conditions in post-menopausal women.Both of these articles noted the lack of readily available preventive and community health resources,a finding echoed in the article by Huang et al.