News

The United States is one of only eight countries in the world where decreases in child and adolescent mortality over a 27-year period haven’t also been matched by reductions in maternal mortality, according to a new scientific study. This divergent trend also was found in American Samoa, Canada, Greece, Guam, Jamaica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Zimbabwe. Of these countries, the United States had the largest increase in maternal mortality rate at 67.5%.

A first-of-its-kind study reveals malaria spending in 2016 totaled $4.3 billion globally, far short of the annual funding target of $6.6 billion set by the World Health Organization. An increase of more than 50% in resources is needed annually to bridge the considerable $2.3 billion gap and meet the WHO target.

Many African nations have made substantial progress in vaccinating children against life-threatening diseases; however, within countries wide discrepancies remain, according to a new scientific study. The proportion of children receiving the full infant series of three vaccinations against diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus (DPT3) increased in almost three quarters of districts in Africa between 2000 and 2016. In 29 of 52 nations studied, however, coverage with DPT3 varied by more than 25% at the district level, highlighting substantial variation within countries.

Exposure to outdoor and indoor air pollution could, on average shorten the life of a child born today by 20 months, according to a new global study, State of Global Air 2019.

A 30-year gap separates countries with the highest and lowest ages at which people experience the health problems of a 65-year-old, according to a new scientific study. Researchers found 76-year-olds in Japan and 46-year-olds in Papua New Guinea have the same level of age-related health problems as an “average” person aged 65.

Q&A with Professor Valery Feigin, Director of the National Institute for Stroke and Applied Neurosciences, and Professor of Epidemiology & Neurology at AUT University, New Zealand

Two IHME papers are featured in the “Altmetric 100” for 2018, the annual listing by the UK-based data science firm of research that most captured the public’s interest.

Neurology experts from around the world will convene in Auckland, New Zealand, for a conference on “brain health,” examining what one calls “the greatest challenge of societies in the 21st century.” Among the neurological disorders to be discussed at the Brain Summit are stroke, traumatic brain injury, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, and migraine and other headaches. The topics are covered in a new series of 11 papers on neurological disorders in The Lancet Neurology. As part of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD), the studies assess death and disability from 15 neurological disorders between 1990 and 2016 in 195 countries and territories by age and by sex. It is the most extensive study ever conducted on neurological disorders.

Rates of premature mortality are two times higher in the most deprived areas of England (Blackpool), compared to the most affluent (Wokingham), according to a new comprehensive analysis of health at a local, national, and regional level across the UK.

Dr. Cynthia Maung, a Burmese physician and director of a clinic in Thailand, will be awarded $100,000 for using health data to improve the lives of refugees, migrant workers, and internally displaced people along the Burmese-Thai border.

New high-resolution maps pinpoint areas across Africa with concentrations of child deaths from diarrhea and show uneven progress over 15 years to mitigate the problem. The study, covering 2000 to 2015, maps the entire African continent in 5x5 square kilometer units and was published in The New England Journal of Medicine.