Last week, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation published two studies revealing health and education disparities on the African continent. What is significant about these studies is not only the results, but also the process that was used to arrive at them, known as “precision mapping.” With the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, IHME is mapping a range of global health metrics using 5x5 kilometer units.
March 6, 2018
February 28, 2018
Progress in the fight against hunger is patchy. New tools must target action to those who are most vulnerable, says Kofi Annan.
October 13, 2017
This year's Roux Prize was awarded to Samba Sow for using health data to save children's lives through a comprehensive vaccination programme. Andrew Green with The Lancet reports.
October 12, 2017
Trevor Mundel, President of Global Health at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, discusses his experience at the Global Burden of Disease 20th Anniversary Symposium.
September 29, 2017
The Lancet Infectious Diseases profiles IHME Director of Geospatial Science Dr. Simon Hays.
September 12, 2017
Goalkeepers: The Stories Behind the Data is the foundation’s first annual progress report on the SDGs and was produced in partnership with IHME. The Gates’ Goalkeepers report
September 5, 2017
There is approximately an 18-year difference in male life expectancy between Japan (80·5 years) and Sudan (62·4 years).1 The study by Laura Dwyer-Lindgren and colleagues2 in this issue of The Lancet Public Health shows that there is also an approximately 18-year difference in male life expectancy between the census tracts with the highest and the lowest life expectancy in King County, WA, USA.
“Public health is local, and similarly local information is required to increase awareness among residents and policy makers alike of the unique challenges facing communities”, conclude Laura Dwyer-Lindgren and colleagues in an Article published in this issue of The Lancet Public Health.
Today, on the heels of a Lancet study that found an 18 year difference in life expectancy for men, and 14 year difference for women, Public Health Insider caught up with our Health Officer, Dr. Jeff Duchin, to talk about neighborhood-level data and how it informs our work.
August 23, 2017
Rheumatic heart disease ranks as one of the most serious cardiovascular scourges of the past century. As a result of improvements in living conditions and the introduction of penicillin, the disease was almost eradicated in the developed world by the 1980s. However, it remains a force to be reckoned with in the developing world, as demonstrated by an assessment from the 2015 Global Burden of Disease study (GBD 2015), painstakingly performed by Watkins and colleagues and reported in this issue of the Journal.
August 4, 2017
Without understanding the challenges facing populations in this region, one cannot identify the way forward in improving their health and fulfilling their aspirations.
The rate of mental disorder burden is higher than the global average for almost all EMR countries. There is a clear trend of increasing burden of mental disorders in the EMR from 1990 to 2015, and this increase is particularly striking in the richer countries of the region.
July 26, 2017
On May 23, 2017, President Donald Trump released his FY 2018 budget request to Congress that includes approximately $2.5 billion in cuts to global health. In t
June 28, 2017
We’re living with an virus-like disease sweeping our nation. Nearly every community is affected. The rates of death rise year after year. It’s the second-leading killer of men in their thirties, making the disease an even bigger threat to their health than being murdered with firearms. This killer sweeping the nation: opioid use.
May 16, 2017
Americans are living longer than ever before, thanks in large part to NIH-supported research. But a new, heavily publicized study shows that recent gains in longevity aren’t being enjoyed equally in all corners of the United States.
April 19, 2017
April 10, 2017
Since John Graunt's analyses of the Bills of Mortality in London, UK, in 1662, observations of premature deaths have driven public health actions—from John Snow's apocryphal removal of the handle on the Broad Street pump during the 1854 cholera outbreak to the international response to the 2013–16 outbreak of Ebola virus disease in west Africa.
April 5, 2017
A new report in The Lancet using data from the Global Burden of Disease Study adds quantitative detail to an already extensive international literature on the health impact of the global tobacco epidemic by providing comprehensive estimates of death and disability caused by smoking at the country level.
March 23, 2017
Although knowledge about global health financing has expanded over the past two decades, major gaps remain. We know little, for example, about how much governments spend on major disease areas, how these amounts have evolved over time and how countries compare. A global health financing data revolution is sorely needed. The suite of papers that make up this special issue underline the importance of reliable information about financial resources for health.
November 8, 2016
After more than a decade of immense growth, development assistance for health has flatlined. DAH fueled a scale up of antiretrovirals, insecticide-treated bed nets, vaccinations and a host of important global health interventions. Over the same period, the spread of a number of infectious diseases was reversed, reducing premature death and disability across the developing world. The plateau in international funding may threaten to slow progress or even roll back these gains.
October 10, 2016
Bill Gates explains in this Gates Notes post using Global Burden of Disease study results why, "Malaria is the key reason mosquitoes are the deadliest animal in the world."
July 19, 2016
In the past two decades, thanks to effective antiretroviral treatment (ART), enormous progress has been made in improving the health and life expectancy of HIV-infected individuals.1 The success of ART, combined with the benefits of treatment as prevention and pre-exposure prophylaxis on HIV transmission, have generated new hope to end the HIV/AIDS epidemics.2 Translation of this hope into universal reality will need accelerated efforts to ensure rapid access to ART and to extend HIV prevention services to reach the most affected populations and regions.
July 5, 2016
Christopher Murray, Director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, discusses the Guidelines for Accurate and Transparent Health Estimates Reporting (GATHER) statement and the importance of ensuring accurate and transparent reporting of public health research.
May 9, 2016
Unprecedented global forces are shaping the health and well-being of the largest generation of 10 to 24 year olds in human history. Population mobility, global communications, economic development, and the sustainability of ecosystems are setting the future course for this generation and, in turn, humankind. At the same time, we have come to new understandings of adolescence as a critical phase in life for achieving human potential.