News

HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of disease burden in 21 countries concentrated in four regions: Eastern and Southern Africa, Central Africa, the Caribbean, and Southeast Asia. In another seven countries, it’s the second-leading cause of disease burden. Despite widespread declines in HIV/AIDS mortality, between 2006 and 2010 HIV/AIDS deaths increased in 98 countries.

In nearly every major cause of premature death – from ischemic heart disease to diabetes to interpersonal violence – the United States trails its economic peers, according to new research from a global collaborative of scientists led by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington.

China made substantial gains in health over the past two decades, including increases in life expectancy, reductions in child mortality, and declines in infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and lower respiratory infections. But with that success accompanies the growth of non-communicable diseases and risk factors such as tobacco use and high blood pressure, which could overwhelm the health system.

IHME Director Christopher Murray delivered a talk on the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2010 (GBD 2010) at TEDMED, an annual gathering of leaders and innovators in science and medicine. Using IHME’s online data visualization tools, Dr. Murray presented eye-catching data on a range of health issues in the US and other countries.

Online tools to be launched by Bill Gates and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation reveal surprising picture for health in 187 countries.

Technology Review’s annual TR35 list honors Abraham Flaxman for pioneering improvements in measuring disease and gauging the effectiveness of health programs.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and IHME are launching an innovative, multiyear collaboration to create an integrated tracking system to monitor the health status of Saudi citizens and to inform health policy priorities. 

A paper co-authored by Dr. Abraham Flaxman, Assistant Professor at IHME, has been given a Best Paper Award by ACM DEV 2012, the Second Annual Symposium on Computing for Development.

New research shows that innovative and improved methods for analyzing verbal autopsies – a method of determining individuals’ causes of death in countries without a complete vital registration system – are fast, effective, and inexpensive, and could be invaluable for countries struggling to understand disease trends.

With four years left for countries to achieve international targets for saving the lives of mothers and children, more than half the countries around the world are lowering maternal mortality and child mortality at an accelerated rate, according to a new analysis by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington.