Research Articles

Zika virus was discovered in Uganda in 1947 and is transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes, which also act as vectors for dengue and chikungunya viruses throughout much of the tropical world. Possible associations with microcephaly and Guillain-Barré syndrome observed in this outbreak have raised concerns about continued global spread of Zika virus, prompting its declaration as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern by the World Health Organization. We conducted species distribution modelling to map environmental suitability for Zika. We show a large portion of tropical and sub-tropical regions globally have suitable environmental conditions with over 2.17 billion people inhabiting these areas.

Disbursements of development assistance for health (DAH) have risen substantially during the past several decades. More recently, the international community’s attention has turned to other international challenges, introducing uncertainty about the future of disbursements for DAH.

Increased demand for antiretroviral therapy (ART) services combined with plateaued levels of development assistance for HIV/AIDS requires that national ART programs monitor program effectiveness. In this pilot study, we compared commonly utilized performance metrics of 12- and 24-month retention with rates of viral load (VL) suppression at 15 health facilities in Uganda.

The health status of the young people is an important indicator for future health and health care needs of the next generation. In order to understand the health risk factors of Saudi youth, we analyzed data from a large national survey in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Under-5 mortality in Zambia has declined since 1990, with reductions accelerating after 2000. Zambia’s scale-up of malaria control is viewed as the driver of these gains, but past studies have not fully accounted for other potential factors. This study sought to systematically evaluate the impact of malaria vector control on under-5 mortality.

Dengue is the most common arbovirus infection globally, but its burden is poorly quantified. We estimated dengue mortality, incidence, and burden for the Global Burden of Disease study 2013.

With the lack of appropriate data, we conducted a large household survey in 2013 to determine current rates of physical activity in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).

The literature focuses on mortality among children younger than 5 years. Comparable information on nonfatal health outcomes among these children and the fatal and nonfatal burden of diseases and injuries among older children and adolescents is scarce.

Background

There is increasing recognition of stroke as an important contributor to childhood morbidity and mortality. Current estimates of global childhood stroke burden and its temporal trends are sparse. Accurate and up-to-date estimates of childhood stroke burden are important for planning research and the resulting evidence-based strategies for stroke prevention and management. 

To analyze the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR) and determine whether systematic reviews and protocols accurately represent disease burden, as measured by disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2010 study.

We conducted a large household survey in 2013 to determine the current status of oral health practices and use of oral health services in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).

Verbal autopsy (VA) is recognized as the only feasible alternative to comprehensive medical certification of deaths in settings with no or unreliable vital registration systems. However, a barrier to its use by national registration systems has been the amount of time and cost needed for data collection. In this paper we describe a shortened version of the VA instrument developed for the Population Health Metrics Research Consortium Gold Standard Verbal Autopsy Validation Study using a systematic approach.