June 17, 2024

Trachoma: how a common cause of blindness can be prevented worldwide

The world has seen a large decline in trachoma, but millions are still at risk. How can we make more progress against it?

May 27, 2024

New polio vaccines are key to preventing outbreaks and achieving eradication

To reach the goal of polio eradication, we can use new vaccines to contain outbreaks and improve testing, outbreak responses, and sanitation.

May 13, 2024

The rise in reported maternal mortality rates in the US is largely due to a change in measurement

Maternal mortality rates appear to have risen in the last 20 years in the US. But this reflects a change in measurement rather than an actual rise in mortality.

May 01, 2024

Key lessons from our work on the COVID-19 pandemic are now published in Lancet Public Health

Our peer-reviewed article outlines seven ways to publish data better.

December 14, 2023

What are the different types of cardiovascular diseases, and how many deaths do they cause?

Cardiovascular diseases are a range of related health conditions that develop in the heart and blood vessels. What are the different diseases, and what is their impact worldwide?

November 27, 2023

Period versus cohort measures: what’s the difference?

What do the terms “period” and “cohort” mean in statistics? How do they differ, and why does it matter?

October 09, 2023

How do statistical organizations define age periods for children?

Neonates, infants, children: what age ranges do these terms refer to?

August 09, 2023

How do researchers estimate the death toll caused by each risk factor, whether it’s smoking, obesity, or air pollution?

Risk factors are important to understand because they can help us identify how to save lives. How do researchers estimate their impact?

August 09, 2023

How are causes of death registered around the world?

In many countries, when people die, the cause of their death is officially registered in their country’s national system. How is this determined?

August 09, 2023

Risk ratios, odds ratios, risk differences: How do researchers calculate the risk from a risk factor?

The effects of risk factors can be calculated in different ways. How are they calculated and interpreted?

August 09, 2023

Why isn’t it possible to sum up the death toll from different risk factors?

Deaths caused by each risk factor can’t be added up. By understanding why, we will have a better understanding of how many lives can be saved with each intervention.

May 26, 2023

How do researchers study the prevalence of mental illnesses?

Global data on mental health is essential to understand the scale and patterns of these illnesses, and how to reduce them. How do researchers collect this data, and how reliable is it?

May 26, 2023

How are mental illnesses defined?

Mental illnesses are a range of conditions that significantly affect people’s lives. What are their symptoms?

October 20, 2022

How many people die from the flu?

The risk of death from influenza has declined over time, but globally, hundreds of thousands of people still die from the disease each year.

July 07, 2022

Guinea worm disease is close to being eradicated – how was this progress achieved?

In the late 1980s, there were near a million new cases of guinea worm disease recorded worldwide. In 2021, there were only 15. How was this achieved?

June 09, 2022

We need more testing to eradicate polio worldwide

The world is close to eradicating polio, but has been set back in the last few years. To achieve the goal of global eradication, it's crucial to improve testing.

May 18, 2022

What is the lifetime risk of depression?

Depression is one of the world’s most common health conditions. It's estimated that one-in-three women and one-in-five men have an episode of major depression by the age of 65.

April 20, 2022

Estimation of the number of paralytic polio cases by region

Only a fraction of all polio cases are reported. Here we apply a method by Tebbens et al. (2010) to estimate the actual number of global polio cases.

April 07, 2022

At what age do people experience depression for the first time?

People are being diagnosed with depression at an earlier age than in the past because of increased openness to mental health disorders and improved diagnostic guidelines.

February 10, 2022

Why randomized controlled trials matter and the procedures that strengthen them

Randomized controlled trials are a key tool to study cause and effect. Why do they matter and how do they work?

September 01, 2021

Depression is complicated – this is how our understanding of the condition has evolved over time