By Sam Meredith
Pollution kills at least 9 million people every year and "threatens the continuing survival of human societies," according to research from a new landmark study.
In 2015, almost one in six deaths – an estimated 9 million globally – were found to relate to pollution in some form.
By Vanessa Bates Ramirez
Compared to life 100 years ago, life these days is pretty good by many measures. You’ve probably heard the statistics: poverty and infant mortality are down, life expectancy is up, and infectious diseases are being controlled, if not cured. In short, more humans than ever before are having their basic needs met, and it’s undeniable that the world is getting better.
By Anmar Frangoul
Global charitable foundation Wellcome has announced a £2.4 million ($3.2 million) investment in a project to track the worldwide impact of superbugs.
The Global Burden of Disease antimicrobial resistance (AMR) project is to be launched today at the Call to Action conference in Berlin, Germany. Tim Jinks, Wellcome's head of drug resistant infections, said it would provide vital information on both the spread and impact of drug resistance.
By Kieran Guilbert
West Africa is most at risk of fatal haemorrhagic fever epidemics, including Ebola, researchers said on Wednesday, calling for greater preparedness to save lives.
A study in The Lancet medical journal assessed the likelihood of four viruses - Ebola, Lassa, Marburg and Crimean-Congo - spreading on the continent, charting progress from a first human case through to a potential pandemic.
By Nurith Aizenman
Last weekend's massacre in Las Vegas is only the latest reminder of the persistent gun violence in the United States. And a new set of statistics on the rates of gun violence unrelated to conflict underscores just how outsize U.S. rates of gun deaths are compared with those in much of the rest of the world.
By Emily Sohn
Where can people expect to live the longest?
The answer to that question is usually pretty predictable and often dependent on wealth: People generally live longer in richer countries. Like Japan and Switzerland, where average life expectancies exceed 83 years.
In lower income countries, expected years of life are often far shorter — hovering below 55 in a number of sub-Saharan countries, including Chad, Mozambique and Sierra Leone.
Next week marks the 20th anniversary of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study, and a special three-day symposium will celebrate this landmark.
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.