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Demographic and epidemiologic drivers of global cardiovascular mortality
Global deaths from cardiovascular disease are increasing as a result of population growth, the aging of populations, and epidemiologic changes in disease. Disentangling the effects of these three drivers on trends in mortality is important for planning the future of the health care system and benchmarking progress toward the reduction of cardiovascular disease.
Benchmarking health system performance across districts in Zambia: a systematic analysis of levels and trends in key maternal and child health interventions from 1990 to 2010
Achieving universal health coverage and reducing health inequalities are primary goals for an increasing number of health systems worldwide. Timely and accurate measurements of levels and trends in key health indicators at local levels are crucial to assess progress and identify drivers of success and areas that may be lagging behind.
Mortality from cardiovascular diseases in sub-Saharan Africa, 1990–2013: a systematic analysis of data from the Global Burden of Disease study 2013: cardiovascular topic
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) has been the leading cause of death in developed countries for most of the last century. Most CVD deaths, however, occur in low- and middle-income, developing countries (LMICs), and there is great concern that CVD mortality and burden are rapidly increasing in LMICs as a result of population growth, aging, and health transitions. In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where all countries are part of the LMICs, the pattern, magnitude, and trends in CVD deaths remain incompletely understood, which limits formulation of data-driven regional and national health policies.
Mapping the zoonotic niche of Marburg virus disease in Africa
Marburg virus disease (MVD) describes a viral haemorrhagic fever responsible for a number of outbreaks across eastern and southern Africa. It is a zoonotic disease, with the Egyptian rousette (Rousettus aegyptiacus) identified as a reservoir host. Infection is suspected to result from contact between this reservoir and human populations, with occasional secondary human-to-human transmission.
Uptake of WHO recommendations for first-line antiretroviral therapy in Kenya, Uganda, and Zambia
Antiretroviral therapy (ART) guidelines were significantly changed by the World Health Organization in 2010. It is largely unknown to what extent these guidelines were adopted into clinical practice.
Self-rated health among Saudi adults: Findings from a national survey, 2013
Self-rated health reflects a person’s integrated perception of health, including its biological, psychological, and social dimensions. It is a predictor of morbidity and mortality. To assess the current status of self-rated health and associated factors in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, we analyzed data from the Saudi Health Interview Survey. We conducted a large national survey of adults aged 15 years or older.
Tracking development assistance for health to fragile states: 2005–2011
Development assistance for health (DAH) has grown substantially, totaling more than $31.3 billion in 2013. However, the degree that countries with high concentrations of armed conflict, ethnic violence, inequality, debt, and corruption have received this health aid and how that assistance might be different from the funding provided to other countries has not been assessed.
Breast cancer screening in Saudi Arabia: Free but almost no takers
Mammography ensures early diagnosis and a better chance for treatment and recovery from breast cancer. We conducted a national survey to investigate knowledge and practices of breast cancer screening among Saudi women aged 50 years or older in order to inform the breast cancer national health programs.
Global burden of untreated caries: a systematic review and metaregression
We aimed to consolidate all epidemiologic data about untreated caries and subsequently generate internally consistent prevalence and incidence estimates for all countries, 20 age groups, and both sexes for 1990 and 2010.
The many projected futures of dengue
Dengue is a vector-borne disease that causes a substantial public health burden within its expanding range. In this review, we compare the main approaches that have been used to model the future global distribution of dengue and propose a set of minimum criteria for future projections that, by analogy, are applicable to other vector-borne diseases.
Salud Mesoamérica 2015 Initiative: design, implementation, and baseline findings
Health has improved markedly in Mesoamerica, the region consisting of southern Mexico and Central America, over the past decade. Despite this progress, there remain substantial inequalities in health outcomes, access, and quality of medical care between and within countries. Poor, indigenous, and rural populations have considerably worse health indicators than national or regional averages. In an effort to address these health inequalities, the Salud Mesoamérica 2015 Initiative (SM2015), a results-based financing initiative, was established.
Fruit and vegetable consumption among adults in Saudi Arabia, 2013
Dietary risks were the leading risk factors for death worldwide in 2010. However, current national estimates on fruit and vegetable consumption in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) are nonexistent. We conducted a large household survey to inform the Saudi Ministry of Health (MOH) on a major modifiable risk factor: daily consumption of fruits and vegetables.
A systematic approach to produce robust, comparable, and timely cost-effectiveness estimates for a set of interventions: proof of concept in two low-income countries
Under the current paradigm, cost-effectiveness studies provide limited value to policymakers in low-resource settings. Studies appear with substantial delays in the academic literature and are often based on large-scale multi-intervention assessments in settings with drastically different infrastructure, resources, and cultures.
Health Service Provision in Ghana: Assessing Facility Capacity and Costs of Care
This report draws from the Access, Bottlenecks, Costs, and Equity (ABCE) project in Ghana, a multipronged and multicountry research collaboration focused on understanding what drives and hinders health service provision
Validating estimates of prevalence of non-communicable diseases based on household surveys: the symptomatic diagnosis study
Easy-to-collect epidemiological information is critical for the more accurate estimation of the prevalence and burden of different non-communicable diseases around the world. The objective of this study was to develop and assess the performance of a symptom-based questionnaire to estimate prevalence of non-communicable diseases in low-resource areas
Deconstructing the differences: a comparison of GBD 2010 and CHERG’s approach to estimating the mortality burden of diarrhea, pneumonia, and their etiologies
Pneumonia and diarrhea are leading causes of death for children under 5 (U5). It is challenging to estimate the total number of deaths and cause-specific mortality fractions. Two major efforts, one led by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) and the other led by the World Health Organization (WHO)/Child Health Epidemiology Reference Group (CHERG) created estimates for the burden of disease due to these two syndromes, yet their estimates differed greatly for 2010.
Get a license, buckle up, and slow down: Risky driving patterns among Saudis
Road traffic injuries are the largest cause of loss of disability-adjusted life years for men and women of all ages in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, but data on driving habits there are lacking. To inform policymakers on drivers’ abilities and driving habits, we analyzed data from the Saudi Health Interview Survey 2013.
A comparison of maternal mortality estimates from GBD 2013 and WHO
Despite rough agreement in global estimates of maternal mortality in 2013, results from the WHO and Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2013 collaborations differed by 147,000 deaths for 1990, diverged by at least 20% in 120 countries in 2013, and provided very different narratives on progress toward Millennium Development Goal 5. The differences are crucial for global monitoring as well as national policy formulation and program planning.
Global, regional, and national age-sex specific all-cause and cause-specific mortality for 240 causes of death, 1990–2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013
Up-to-date evidence on levels and trends for age-sex-specific all-cause and cause-specific mortality is essential for the formation of global, regional, and national health policies. In the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013 (GBD 2013) we estimated yearly deaths for 188 countries between 1990 and 2013. We used the results to assess whether there is epidemiological convergence across countries.
Pharmaceutical availability across levels of care: evidence from facility surveys in Ghana, Kenya, and Uganda
In this study we use facility-level data from nationally representative surveys conducted in Ghana, Kenya, and Uganda to understand pharmaceutical availability within the three countries
The burden of disease in Spain: results from the Global Burden of Disease study 2010
We herein evaluate the Spanish population's trends in health burden by comparing results of two Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Studies (the GBD studies) performed 20 years apart.