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An estimated 160 million Americans are either obese or overweight. Nearly three-quarters of American men and more than 60% of women are obese or overweight. These are also major challenges for America’s children – nearly 30% of boys and girls under age 20 are either obese or overweight, up from 19% in 1980.

Global health funding hit an all-time high of $31.3 billion in 2013, five times greater than in 1990. Yet with 3.9% growth from 2012 to 2013, the year-over-year increase falls short of the rapid rates seen over the previous decade, according to new research by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington being published online in a web first edition on April 8 by Health Affairs.

Nationally, smoking rates have decreased since 1996, but the declines have been driven by a relatively small share of counties across the US, according to new research from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington.

New research from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) shows that verbal autopsy (VA) is a powerful and valid method for data gathering in low-resource settings and points to a newly developed tool as the analytic method of choice.

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.

During the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq from 2003 to 2011, for every three people killed by violence, two died as a result of the collapse of the infrastructure that supports health care, clean water, nutrition, and transportation, according to new estimates in a study from the University of Washington Department of Global Health published in the open access journal PLOS Medicine. All told, the researchers estimate that nearly a half million people died from causes that could be attributed to the war.

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.

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. 

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.