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Risk factors including smoking, poor diet, and lack of physical activity are taking their toll, according to a new study by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, working with the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.

Countries in the Arab world – from Saudi Arabia to Mauritania to Yemen – have made some significant health gains over the past two decades, including increases in life expectancy and swift reductions in child mortality. These are some of the findings published January 20 in “The State of Health in the Arab World, 1990–2010: An Analysis of the Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors.” 

The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) will release a new policy report, The Global Burden of Disease: Generating Evidence, Guiding Policy – European Union and Free Trade Association Regional Edition, at the 6th European Public Health Conference in Brussels.

Dr. Julio Frenk, Chair of the Board of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), was awarded the 2013 Abraham Horwitz Award for Excellence in Leadership in Inter-American Public Health (Premio Abraham Horwitz a la Excelencia en Liderazgo en la Salud Pública Interamericana).

In the Middle East and North Africa, heart disease, stroke, and diabetes are causing a massive amount of premature death and disability. People in Latin America and the Caribbean are living longer on the whole, yet they face increasing threats from chronic diseases. Mortality has declined in many South Asian countries, yet the number of deaths by non-communicable diseases and self-harm has skyrocketed since 1990.

The rise in physical activity levels will have a positive health impact on Americans by reducing death and chronic disability from cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. But the trend has had little impact so far on stopping the rising tide of obesity. 

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.

Australians live longer, healthier lives than people in almost every other country, but a range of ailments threatens advances made in recent years, a symposium on groundbreaking data at the University of Melbourne reveals.

One in five Americans is completely unaware that he or she is at risk for the second leading cause of premature death: high blood pressure. In the first ever analysis of awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension for every county, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington revealed significant differences across the US.

British people spend more time with chronic illness and disability than most Europeans. Young adults are hit hard by alcohol and drug use. 

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