The need to contain the epidemic as well as combat its impact and minimize the CVD toll in terms of mortality and morbidity in the developing countries is, therefore, obvious and urgent. Although feasible, national strategies to meet this objective must be developed and effectively implemented by individual countries, new regional and global initiatives by international agencies concerned with health care program facilitation, policy development, and research funding are also required to strengthen and speed up these national efforts. In addition, a considerable body of evidence suggests that current risk-factor prevention programs and low-cost case management of CVD offer feasible, cost-effective ways to reduce CVD mortality and disability in developing country populations.