The paper, “US spending on personal health care and public health, 1996–2013,” published recently in JAMA, found that just 20 conditions make up more than half of all spending on health care in the United States. The paper’s findings have elicited a variety of recommendations from health care experts from the private sector and an architect of the Affordable Care Act.
2017
February 15, 2017
Acting on data
February 9, 2017
Acting on data
Data collected by IHME during its evaluation of the Salud Mesoamerica Initiative (SMI) is driving improvements in the health systems that serve some of the Americas’ poorest people.
January 31, 2017
Acting on data
On December 13, 2016, President Obama signed the 21st Century Cures Act into law. Intending to “accelerate the discovery, development, and delivery of 21st century cures,” the act emphasizes using burden of disease data to prioritize areas of research and innovation.
January 26, 2017
Acting on data
Researchers and clean air advocates in India have used GDB data to highlight the health impacts of air pollution, and to guide the development of a pioneering new framework to address this major risk factor.
January 18, 2017
Acting on data
Facing the dual challenge of aging societies and the rise of non-communicable diseases, health experts in countries like Italy are using burden of disease data to help guide policymaking.
January 10, 2017
Acting on data
The deadline for nominations for the 2017 Roux Prize – January 31, 2017 – is approaching quickly. To provide inspiration, we are revisiting the story of last year’s winner, Dr. John Q. Wong. Dr. Wong used burden of disease data to help the country’s government insurance program expand coverage to 15 million people most in need and reduce their out-of-pocket costs for health care.
January 3, 2017
Acting on data
Results from IHME’s Global Burden of Disease study have consistently ranked air pollution as a leading risk factor for death and disability, particularly for women and children. Using these findings, US senator Susan Collins introduced a bill that calls for more US involvement in the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, a public-private partnership supported by the UN Foundation, to help achieve its 2020 goals.
2016
December 27, 2016
Acting on data
Diabetes is an increasingly important health threat in many African countries, and is fast becoming a leading cause of non-communicable-disease-related death and disability on the continent. A new report by IHME, launched in Nairobi at the Pan African World Diabetes Day Forum, is helping the Kenyan Ministry of Health frame its strategy for tackling the disease.
December 19, 2016
Acting on data
When it comes to how Americans die, not all counties are created equal. IHME’s latest findings reveal a 15-year difference between counties with the lowest and highest life expectancies for American women in 2013 – 71 years in McDowell County, West Virginia, to 86 years in Marin County, California.
December 13, 2016
Acting on data
What are essential medicines and who should pay for them, especially in lower-income countries? Those questions and others were studied by The Lancet’s Commission on Essential Medicines Policies and explored in a series of articles published recently in the London-based medical journal.
December 5, 2016
Acting on data
While decision-makers, researchers, and clinicians around the globe regularly use Global Burden of Disease (GBD) estimates to inform their work and set policy, educators are also finding value in incorporating this research and IHME resources into their curricula.
November 28, 2016
Acting on data
Over the past few years, the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study has grown a network of expert collaborators with an array of experience, competencies, and disciplines, and it is this diversity of perspective that makes GBD the most comprehensive view of global health burden in the world. One collaborator, Dr. Jayaraman, discussed her unique vantage point as a clinician in October during the GBD 2015 launch event, and we had the opportunity to learn more about Dr. Jayaraman’s experiences after the event.
November 21, 2016
Acting on data
Adolescence is often overlooked in health policy and planning, despite the fact that it represents a crucial period of life for addressing risks and preventing health problems in later life. Guided by insights from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study, the Government of India has prioritized the needs of adolescents in a comprehensive strategy to address the determinants of poor health for women, children, and young people.
November 17, 2016
Acting on data
For World Diabetes Day (WDD), IHME showcased a variety of diabetes-related resources that can be used by decision-makers. IHME’s WDD social media campaign demonstrated how IHME’s online data visualization tool GBD Compare can be used to compare trends across countries, ages, sexes, and time periods.
November 10, 2016
Acting on data
Public Health England (PHE) just wrapped up the fifth year of their “Stoptober” challenge, a campaign to get 7 million people in England to stop smoking. This campaign reflects one of the seven priorities outlined in PHE’s plan of action, “From evidence into action: opportunities to protect and improve the nation’s health,” which was crafted using data from the Global Burden of Disease Study.
November 4, 2016
Acting on data
Thomas J. Bollyky and Eric Goosby use IHME research to make the case for continued U.S. leadership and investment in global health.
October 28, 2016
Acting on data
To provide Namibia with actionable evidence to guide the country’s universal health coverage agenda, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO), Namibia, recently published the report “Namibia: State of the Nation’s Health: Findings from the Global Burden of Disease.”
October 21, 2016
Acting on data
In New Zealand, the Ministry of Health is using Global Burden of Disease (GBD) data to guide the country’s health strategy for the next 10 years and beyond. An extensive new report, entitled Health Loss in New Zealand 1990-2013: A report from the New Zealand Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors, provides a big-picture look at New Zealand’s health landscape. By outlining the major causes of health loss in the country over the past two decades, it aims to guide policymakers, funders, researchers, and front-line providers in their efforts to ensure that all New Zealanders are “living well, staying well, and getting well.”
October 14, 2016
Acting on data
The world’s most comprehensive tool for measuring disease burden and guiding government health agendas just got better.
September 16, 2016
Acting on data
In Mexico, evidence from the Global Burden of Disease study plays a central role in guiding health policy. As Secretary of Health of Mexico from 2000 to 2006, Dr. Julio Frenk was the first leader in the country to use Global Burden of Disease (GBD) findings to guide health policy. Burden of Disease research helped shape the package of health services provided to all Mexicans.
September 9, 2016
Acting on data
According to a new report from the World Bank and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), air pollution – which can lead to lung cancer, stroke, and heart disease – cost the global economy roughly $225 billion in 2013. Air pollution, per the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013, was the fourth-leading risk factor for premature death in 2013.
August 23, 2016
Acting on data
Britain’s recent vote to leave the European Union (EU) – popularly known as “Brexit” – marks a monumental shift in the EU’s history of alliance, and the uncertainty it has generated reaches far beyond the bounds of the EU.
August 11, 2016
Acting on data
In June of 1981, the CDC reported five cases of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia among previously healthy young men in Los Angeles. Thirty-five years later, and millions of words, thousands of scientific papers, and countless celebrities’ speeches later, AIDS has evolved from an obscure disease to a movement crossing medical, social, political, and economic boundaries.
July 15, 2016
Acting on data
This week, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Nairobi, announcing that his country would help the Kenyan government build a high-tech cancer treatment center in the capital. At the same time, 65 health practitioners gathered in another part of the city to plan for an even bigger project: tackling all non-communicable diseases (NCDs). As a first step toward this goal, the International Center for Humanitarian Affairs (ICHA) at the Kenya Red Cross and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), in collaboration with the Kenya Ministry of Health, produced a report that examines health progress over the past 23 years, as well as the challenges the country faces as its population grows and Kenya’s health landscape shifts.
July 8, 2016
Acting on data
In the midst of a contentious Congressional battle over funding for Zika prevention and research, IHME is providing Congressional staff with objective information to guide decision-making.