News releases

Neurology experts from around the world will convene in Auckland, New Zealand, for a conference on “brain health,” examining what one calls “the greatest challenge of societies in the 21st century.” Among the neurological disorders to be discussed at the Brain Summit are stroke, traumatic brain injury, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, and migraine and other headaches. The topics are covered in a new series of 11 papers on neurological disorders in The Lancet Neurology. As part of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD), the studies assess death and disability from 15 neurological disorders between 1990 and 2016 in 195 countries and territories by age and by sex. It is the most extensive study ever conducted on neurological disorders.

Rates of premature mortality are two times higher in the most deprived areas of England (Blackpool), compared to the most affluent (Wokingham), according to a new comprehensive analysis of health at a local, national, and regional level across the UK.

Dr. Cynthia Maung, a Burmese physician and director of a clinic in Thailand, will be awarded $100,000 for using health data to improve the lives of refugees, migrant workers, and internally displaced people along the Burmese-Thai border.

New high-resolution maps pinpoint areas across Africa with concentrations of child deaths from diarrhea and show uneven progress over 15 years to mitigate the problem. The study, covering 2000 to 2015, maps the entire African continent in 5x5 square kilometer units and was published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Life expectancy in Russia between 1994 and 2016 increased by more than seven years, while rates of death among children under age 5 decreased nearly 60%, according to the most extensive health study on the nation ever conducted. In addition, age-adjusted rates of premature death from smoking, one of the world’s most substantial health risks, dropped by nearly 34% over the same time period.

A new scientific study concludes there is no safe level of drinking alcohol. The study, published today in the international medical journal The Lancet, shows that in 2016, nearly 3 million deaths globally were attributed to alcohol use, including 12 percent of deaths in males between the ages of 15 and 49.

A new scientific study finds 93 million people live in remote areas with venomous snakes and, if bitten, face a greater likelihood of dying than those in urban settings because of poor access to anti-venom medications. The study, conducted by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, was published today in the international medical journal The Lancet.

Indonesia has made advances in health since 1990, increasing life expectancy by eight years and decreasing rates of health loss from communicable diseases like diarrheal disease and tuberculosis.

Lifestyle-related cancers, such as lung, colorectal, and skin cancers, have increased globally over the past decade, according to the most comprehensive analysis of cancer-related health outcomes and patterns ever conducted.

While health care access and quality have improved generally over the past several years, advancements in many countries have been slow or nonexistent as compared to the previous decade, according to a new scientific study.

 An estimated 5.4 billion people globally are expected to be covered under some form of universal health care by 2030, up from 4.3 billion in 2015, but far below the related target in United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3, according to a new scientific study.

States whose residents suffered from high rates of cardiovascular disease (CVD) a generation ago are now achieving much higher levels of healthy life, according to the most extensive state-by-state health study ever conducted.