Joint Project Includes World Health Organization and  
The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation 

SEATTLE – Health analyses of people at risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) in low- and middle-income countries may soon improve, thanks to new computer modeling. 

The new modeling is a joint project of the World Health Organization (WHO), the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington School of Medicine (IHME), and the University of Cambridge.  

The system of new algorithms was announced in a paper published today in the international medical journal The Lancet [2]. 

An estimated 17.8 million people died from cardiovascular disease in 2017, more than 75% of whom were in low- and middle-income countries. 

“To help reduce the global burden of CVD, WHO member states made a commitment to ensure that by 2025 at least 50% of eligible people (defined as aged 40 years and older and at high risk of CVD) receive access to counseling and drug treatments to prevent heart attacks and stroke,” according to the paper. 

Leaders of IHME and WHO last year signed a memorandum of understanding calling for the organizations to work together on the annual Global Burden of Disease study, thereby strengthening the study for national and local decision-making by health officials and practitioners.  

For more information on the new CVD risk assessment procedures, visit The Lancet [2]. 

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About the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation 
The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) is an independent global health research organization at the University of Washington School of Medicine that provides rigorous and comparable measurement of the world’s most important health problems and evaluates the strategies used to address them. IHME is committed to transparency and makes this information widely available so that policymakers have the evidence they need to make informed decisions on allocating resources to improve population health.