Why do GBD researchers bother to use new and potentially unfamiliar metrics instead of tried-and-true, older ways of discussing disease, like prevalence and incidence? To illustrate how GBD metrics complement other population health metrics, let’s consider some standard public health metrics, and how GBD-specific metrics build on them.
2019
June 20, 2019
Acting on data
As part of a recent bipartisan push to enact new anti-tobacco legislation in the state, the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement (ACHI) used data from the Global Burden of Disease study and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) to highlight the steep cost of tobacco use in Arkansas.
May 31, 2019
Acting on data
At the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), health innovators are using Global Burden of Disease (GBD) metrics to improve child health, increase access to family planning services, and make childbirth safer.
April 15, 2019
Acting on data
On April 4, 2019, the Indonesian Ministry of National Development Planning, known as Bappenas, and the Ministry of Health unveiled findings from a new provincial-level study of burden of disease, which they are using to guide national planning and priority setting.
March 14, 2019
Acting on data
As a world leader promoting the health of children and mothers, UNICEF and its partners work to save the lives of millions of the world’s most vulnerable, in part by having hyper-local data at their fingertips. Recently, UNICEF and its partners started using maps from the Local Burden of Disease (LBD) project, an initiative led by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), in one of their flagship data dashboards, the Equitable Impact Sensitive Tool (EQUIST).
2018
October 26, 2018
Acting on data
Every day we encounter and use mathematical models. From producing weather predictions for the week, to calculating a country’s GDP, to estimating the impact of vaccinations, models help us process, represent, and understand the data that describe the workings of the world around us.
October 18, 2018
Acting on data
Underwriters Laboratories focused on home and workplace safety, publishes a Safety Index, an algorithm-based data science initiative to foster safe conditions through scientific applications addressing safety, security, and sustainability challenges. Data is integral to the Safety Index, and UL utilizes data from the Global Burden of Disease study (GBD).
August 27, 2018
Acting on data
We use more 90,000 data sources in the Global Burden of Disease. Why do we use estimates instead of simply presenting the data points?
August 7, 2018
Acting on data
As part of its Big Four agenda, the government of Kenya is committed to providing universal health coverage by 2022. Global Burden of Disease (GBD) collaborators in Kenya are shedding light on ways that the study can help the country reach this goal.
July 23, 2018
Acting on data
Knowing what someone died of can be complicated. We often talk and think about death as a singular event. We say, “he died of cancer” or “she died of old age.” In reality, a series of domino effects are often occurring inside the body that lead to someone’s death.
July 13, 2018
Acting on data
The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study relies on a lot of data – over 90,000 data sources, in fact. Each of these data sources has their own distinct way of collecting information and measuring health. How do we make these sources speak the same language?
June 14, 2018
Acting on data
Estimates are only as strong as the evidence they are built on. The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study produces millions of estimates of health around the globe, estimates that are informing real-world policy and implementation. That means that they have to be built on good data, and a lot of it.
May 7, 2018
Acting on data
How do we quantify the health impacts of a risk factor such as pollution, which is pervasive, difficult to detect, and often underreported? Richard Fuller, environmentalist and President of Pure Earth, is taking on the challenge.
April 20, 2018
Acting on data
At the US Senate on April 17, 2018, Professor Ali Mokdad presented findings about health in the US at a briefing for Senate health staff. The goal of the presentation was to raise awareness about how Global Burden of Disease (GBD) data could be a valuable resource for them, and how states can use GBD data to advocate for money to address different health problems.
April 18, 2018
Acting on data
Everyone deserves to live a long life in full health. Inspired and fueled by this idea, the Global Burden of Disease study, or GBD, seeks to answer the question of what sickens and kills people of all ages around the world.
March 26, 2018
Acting on data
What do the largest development bank, largest global public health agency, and largest funder of primary biomedical research have in common? Well, among other things, their use of IHME’s work for decision-making.
March 14, 2018
Acting on data
In his 2017 National Day Rally speech, Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong expressed his commitment to tackling an important challenge facing the country: Singaporeans are living some of the longest lives in the world, but, particularly in old age, they are not always healthy ones.
March 2, 2018
Acting on data
Precision maps reveal significant health and education disparities within African nations.
February 22, 2018
Acting on data
In Rwanda, IHME’s collaborators are using GBD data as they tackle the growing burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and improve care for people living with disabilities.
February 2, 2018
Acting on data
Ukraine has revamped its health system using the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study to better address the health problems of its people. The Ministry of Health of Ukraine is also working with IHME to improve the science behind the estimates.
2017
October 26, 2017
Acting on data
According to Harvard Business Review, people often make great decisions not while actively trying. These “aha!” moments can lead to brilliant, unexpected ideas or solutions. In 1993, a man in Seattle had such an “aha!” moment reading a study about diarrhea. Nearly 25 years later, that moment, unquestionably, helped change the course of global health.
October 18, 2017
Acting on data
The Global Burden of Disease study (GBD) has been compared to many landmark events: the advent of the encyclopedia, the mapping of the human genome, and the first landing on the moon.
September 12, 2017
Acting on data
These updated findings are important to understanding today’s gains and gaps for the health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and are essential for decision-makers as they aim to improve the health of populations. We have highlighted some uses and coverage of last year’s SDG report and paired them with particularly interesting or notable findings from GBD 2016.
August 8, 2017
Acting on data
In a new series of papers published yesterday, the GBD Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) collaborators describe the disease burden of the 22 countries that make up the EMR. While wars and civil unrest are currently the primary cause of death and disability in many Middle Eastern countries, the authors of the studies point out that other pressing issues are also multiplying both due to and alongside the ongoing unrest.
June 21, 2017
Acting on data
The FIA Foundation’s recent report, “Step Change: An Action Agenda on Safe Walking for Africa’s Children,” uses data from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study to highlight the high burden of road traffic injuries among children in sub-Saharan Africa. The FIA Foundation is a UK-based charity that promotes road safety, the environment, and sustainable transport, and funds research on motor sport safety.