Next week marks the 20th anniversary of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study, and a special three-day symposium will celebrate this landmark.

Seattle, Washington—September 15, 2017—The Washington Global Health Alliance (WGHA) is pleased to announce the 2017 Pioneers of Global Health Award winners. This year’s winners, selected by a panel of global health experts, are noted for their significant achievements in improving global health equity, advancing access to HIV testing and treatment, and forming new partnerships and innovation to end malaria in Zambia. Winners will be honored at WGHA’s annual event, the Pioneers of Global Health Awards Dinner & Auction, November 9, 2017, at The Triple Door in Seattle.

The University of Washington Population Health Initiative has awarded five pilot research grants of $50,000 each to faculty-led teams from 10 different UW schools and colleges. This first $250,000 in funding was matched by additional school, college and departmental funds, bringing the total value of these awards to nearly $445,000.

The following post was written in partnership with PATH’s Better Immunization Data (BID) Initiative.

The digital health landscape is rife with disconnected systems that make it challenging to aggregate information and improve the health of populations. After years of disjointed experiences, multiple organizations and governments have found that multi-platform, standardized, and connected information systems are critical to allow health care providers and decision makers access to timely and accurate information.

We are delighted to announce that Dr. Pamela Y. Collins will join the University of Washington as Director of Global Mental Health, a joint program that will be co-led by the Departments of Global Health and Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Dr. Collins was selected for this important, new position after an international search that considered candidates from multiple continents. She will have a joint appointment as professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (primary) and Global Health (joint). 

By Steve Hanley

Most of us learned about photosynthesis when we were in high school. Plants use carbon dioxide and sunlight to make the food they need to grow. That means higher carbon dioxide levels should be good for plants, right? Absolutely, says Republican Congressman Lamar Smith of Texas. He is a firmly committed climate change denier who is the chairman of the House Committee on Science.

By Sarah Boseley

Poor diet is a factor in one in five deaths around the world, according to the most comprehensive study ever carried out on the subject.

Millions of people are eating the wrong sorts of food for good health. Eating a diet that is low in whole grains, fruit, nuts and seeds and fish oils and high in salt raises the risk of an early death, according to the huge and ongoing study Global Burden of Disease.

By Joanne Silberner

Later this month, global health luminaries will gather in Seattle to celebrate the anniversary of a relationship that had a rocky start back in 1986, when a brash young Rhodes scholar marched into the World Health Organization office of an epidemiologist who had published research papers on mortality in Africa.

“Are you Alan Lopez?” the visitor asked. “Yes,” Lopez remembers answering. “Well, I’m Chris Murray, and everything you’ve written about Africa is wrong.”

 By Sandi Doughton

With more than $40 billion in assets and the world’s richest man at the helm, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation might seem well-positioned to ride out any political storm.

But the Trump administration’s proposal to slash funding for the global health and development causes the Seattle foundation holds dear sent shivers through even the country’s most powerful philanthropy.

By Susan Scutti

Are nations around the globe on track to meet health-related sustainable development goals for the year 2030? A new analysis finds outstanding achievements -- but a great deal of work still needed -- before the goals can be reached.