Acting on Data

Discover stories from around the world about the people turning IHME evidence into health impact.
Acting on Data

Determining tobacco's cost in Arkansas

As part of a recent bipartisan push to enact new anti-tobacco legislation in the state, the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement (ACHI) used data from the Global Burden of Disease study and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) to highlight the steep cost of tobacco use in Arkansas. 

Acting on Data

UNICEF data dashboard incorporates Local Burden of Disease data

As a world leader promoting the health of children and mothers, UNICEF and its partners work to save the lives of millions of the world’s most vulnerable, in part by having hyper-local data at their fingertips. Recently, UNICEF and its partners started using maps from the Local Burden of Disease (LBD) project, an initiative led by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), in one of their flagship data dashboards, the Equitable Impact Sensitive Tool (EQUIST).

Acting on Data

The power of models

Every day we encounter and use mathematical models. From producing weather predictions for the week, to calculating a country’s GDP, to estimating the impact of vaccinations, models help us process, represent, and understand the data that describe the workings of the world around us.

Acting on Data

Communicating GBD to policymakers: UL’s experience with injury data in Vietnam

Underwriters Laboratories focused on home and workplace safety, publishes a Safety Index, an algorithm-based data science initiative to foster safe conditions through scientific applications addressing safety, security, and sustainability challenges. Data is integral to the Safety Index, and UL utilizes data from the Global Burden of Disease study (GBD).

Acting on Data

Why estimate?

We use more 90,000 data sources in the Global Burden of Disease. Why do we use estimates instead of simply presenting the data points?

Acting on Data

Accelerating progress toward universal health coverage in Kenya

As part of its Big Four agenda, the government of Kenya is committed to providing universal health coverage by 2022. Global Burden of Disease (GBD) collaborators in Kenya are shedding light on ways that the study can help the country reach this goal.

Acting on Data

Determining causes of death: How we reclassify miscoded deaths

Knowing what someone died of can be complicated. We often talk and think about death as a singular event. We say, “he died of cancer” or “she died of old age.” In reality, a series of domino effects are often occurring inside the body that lead to someone’s death. 

Acting on Data

Making GBD data sources speak a universal language

The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study relies on a lot of data – over 90,000 data sources, in fact. Each of these data sources has their own distinct way of collecting information and measuring health. How do we make these sources speak the same language?

Acting on Data

What data sources go into the GBD?

Estimates are only as strong as the evidence they are built on. The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study produces millions of estimates of health around the globe, estimates that are informing real-world policy and implementation. That means that they have to be built on good data, and a lot of it.

Acting on Data

Tackling America’s burden

At the US Senate on April 17, 2018, Professor Ali Mokdad presented findings about health in the US at a briefing for Senate health staff. The goal of the presentation was to raise awareness about how Global Burden of Disease (GBD) data could be a valuable resource for them, and how states can use GBD data to advocate for money to address different health problems.

Acting on Data

Counting sickness on a global scale

Everyone deserves to live a long life in full health. Inspired and fueled by this idea, the Global Burden of Disease study, or GBD, seeks to answer the question of what sickens and kills people of all ages around the world. 

Acting on Data

New Series: IHME Foundations

What do the largest development bank, largest global public health agency, and largest funder of primary biomedical research have in common? Well, among other things, their use of IHME’s work for decision-making.