Dive into the latest trending topics in global health with IHME’s Global Health Insights podcast. Our health researchers explain the significance of new studies, share data related to current events, and help you understand the story behind the numbers.

IHME’s Global Health Insights

The NUS-IHME Global Burden of Disease Research Centre is a new regional hub to serve as a key analytical engine for Southeast Asia and the surrounding region by delivering scientific evidence that its leaders can translate into policy. We discuss the Centre with IHME Director Dr. Christopher Murray and Professor Chong Yap Seng, Dean of NUS Medicine, the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine at the Na...

The NUS-IHME Global Burden of Disease Research Centre is a new regional hub to serve as a key analytical engine for Southeast Asia and the surrounding region by delivering scientific evidence that its leaders can translate into policy. We discuss the Centre with IHME Director Dr. Christopher Murray and Professor Chong Yap Seng, Dean of NUS Medicine, the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine at the National University of Singapore.
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Transcript:
Rhonda Stewart: Welcome to Global Health Insights, a podcast from IHME, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. I’m Rhonda Stewart. In this episode, we’ll hear from IHME Director Dr. Christopher Murray and Professor Chong Yap Seng, Dean of NUS Medicine, the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine at the National University of Singapore. They discuss an exciting new collaboration, the NUS–IHME Global Burden of Disease Research Centre. This is a new regional hub to serve as a key analytical engine for Southeast Asia and the surrounding region by delivering scientific evidence that its leaders can translate into policy. Southeast Asian countries are home to nearly 1 in 10 people worldwide and face a variety of health challenges driven by a rapidly aging population, changing disease patterns, and the growing health impacts of climate change. Yet within the region, many lack critical data and insight that would help local leaders allocate resources more efficiently, target inequities, and operate proactively rather than reactively, particularly during an outbreak or a pandemic. The Centre will study a range of issues, including antimicrobial resistance or AMR, metabolic risks, women’s health, and dietary and lifestyle factors. Professor Chong and Dr. Murray, thank you so much for being with us on the podcast. Let’s talk first about how the new NUS–IHME Global Burden of Disease Research Centre came about. What was the impetus for launching the Centre? And Professor Chong, let’s start with you. Professor Chong Yap Seng: Thanks, Rhonda. I think it’s a matter of admiration, friendship, and persistence that got this Centre started. I’ve been a great fan of the Global Burden of Disease study for a long time, and the work of IHME. One of their former faculty, Associate Professor Marie Ng, joined NUS Medicine a few years ago, and in 2023 or 24, she introduced me to Stephen Lim from IHME. We got along very well, and there was great interest for us to work together because I’ve been a great fan of the Global Burden of Disease study. And then we persisted to discuss more and more details, and in November 2024, we signed a memorandum of understanding between NUS Medicine and IHME to work on creating a joint center. And then from there it grew and gained momentum. And in February this year, we actually launched the Centre. So as I said, because we respected the work of IHME so much, we had great friends – Marie Ng with IHME, and then meeting Stephen, and then Emmanuela [Gakidou], and then finally Chris [Murray]. And we persisted and overcame all the hurdles that came in the way, and that’s how the Centre got started. Rhonda Stewart: Wonderful. And Dr. Murray, what would you like to add about partnering with NUS? Dr. Christopher Murray: Well, I think this was a very exciting opportunity for us. NUS is one of the leading universities in the world. And so given Marie’s history with us and her energy and Yap Seng, the willingness to foster and catalyze this sort of collaboration, this is just great. I mean, we want to be working with the best institutions in the world. And here’s this fantastic opportunity for us to be able to work with NUS and particularly the School of Medicine. So this was really simple from our point of view. Rhonda Stewart: And the Centre will focus on Southeast Asian countries. Let me ask you both, why is this region particularly important to study? Professor Chong Yap Seng: Okay. From my point of view, I would say that Southe

Delivering scientific evidence through the NUS-IHME Global Burden of Disease Research Centre

IHME Director Dr. Christopher Murray and UCLA Chancellor Dr. Julio Frenk discuss The Lancet Commission on Health Systems Performance Assessment and how the information will allow policymakers and other decision-makers to use resources strategically and improve health outcomes.
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Transcript

Rhonda Stewart: Welcome to Global Health Insights, a podcast from IHME, the Institute for Healt...

IHME Director Dr. Christopher Murray and UCLA Chancellor Dr. Julio Frenk discuss The Lancet Commission on Health Systems Performance Assessment and how the information will allow policymakers and other decision-makers to use resources strategically and improve health outcomes.
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Transcript
Rhonda Stewart: Welcome to Global Health Insights, a podcast from IHME, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. I’m Rhonda Stewart. In this episode, we’ll hear from IHME Director Dr. Christopher Murray and UCLA Chancellor Dr. Julio Frenk as they talk about the Lancet Commission on Health Systems Performance Assessment. The Commission’s work builds on a report by the World Health Organization in 2000 that analyzed and ranked the performance of health systems in WHO member states. In the quarter century since the WHO report, the need to understand health systems performance has become more complex and more urgent. Disease burden has evolved along with health expenditure. Globally, low-, middle-, and high-income countries face unique challenges as well as challenges that cut across all countries. The Commission is made up of experts from around the world. It will estimate the performance of countries’ health systems using the best available evidence and propose enhanced measurements of health system functions and goals. The information will allow policymakers and other decision-makers to use resources strategically and improve health outcomes. Dr. Frenk and Dr. Murray, people are familiar with the components of a health care system, but what makes a health system broader, and what are those specific components? Dr. Julio Frenk: Well, the health care system is a subsystem of the larger concept of the health system. Specifically, what most people come in contact with on a daily basis and as part of their personal experience is the health care system. Most people in the world today are born in contact with the health care system, will die in contact with the health care system, and will spend significant parts of their lives in the health care system. What that refers to is the set of institutions that are mostly charged with providing what is conventionally defined as health services or personal health services or clinical services. The health system encompasses a broader set of institutions and actors and actions which we basically define as all those actors and institutions in a society whose primary intent is to improve health. And that includes most of the entities we call the health care system, hospitals, clinics, labs, the pharmaceutical industry, et cetera, et cetera. But it includes a broader set of institutions that are concerned with conserving, promoting, or improving health in a society. Rhonda Stewart: Dr. Murray, anything to add on the components of a health system? Dr. Christopher Murray: Well, there’s always a contingent of people who rightly point out that there are drivers of health like educational attainment, whose primary intent is not to improve health, but happen to be super important drivers. So the notion of the health system defined by primary intent does not deny the idea that there are broader social determinants of health. It just says there are these institutions in society who we have funded and created whose primary purpose is to improve health. And it is useful for us to look at that cluster of institutions and figure out who does well and what lessons we can learn about those primary institutions that are focused on improving health. Rhonda Stewart: And in addition to educational attainment, are there other factors that are not technically part of a health system but influence health systems? Dr. Julio Frenk: Yeah, there’s all kinds of what are called social determinants of health, which are other institutions. I mean, the economy, the economic forces, employment is a determinant of health, and housing is a determinant of health. But the purpose of housing is no

How health systems and social determinants of health can guide policy

The Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD) is the most comprehensive assessment of health trends and conditions across countries. GBD provides detailed analysis of disease burden related to life expectancy, non-communicable diseases, mental health, and many other health topics. We discuss the latest GBD with IHME Director Dr. Christopher Murray. Read the GBD 2023 capstones, published in The Lance...

The Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD) is the most comprehensive assessment of health trends and conditions across countries. GBD provides detailed analysis of disease burden related to life expectancy, non-communicable diseases, mental health, and many other health topics. We discuss the latest GBD with IHME Director Dr. Christopher Murray.Read the GBD 2023 capstones, published in The Lancet:• Global demographic analysis: http://ms.spr.ly/6047s2bOv• Global causes of death: http://ms.spr.ly/6040s2bOI• Global burden of diseases, injuries, and risk factors: http://ms.spr.ly/6041s2bOLAccess and share all things related to GBD 2023: updated data visualization tools, comprehensive infographics, informative videos, workshops, webinars, and more: https://www.healthdata.org/announcing-launch-gbd-2023-study-results.________________________Transcript
Rhonda Stewart: Welcome to Global Health Insights, a podcast from IHME, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. I’m Rhonda Stewart. In this episode, we’ll hear from IHME Director Dr. Christopher Murray as he talks about the latest Global Burden of Disease study, also known as GBD. GBD 2023 is a series of three papers published in The Lancet and presented at the World Health Summit in Berlin. The papers focus on demographic analysis, causes of death, and diseases, injuries, and risk factors. GBD is the largest and most detailed scientific effort undertaken to quantify health trends. GBD provides a unique platform to compare the magnitude of diseases, injuries and risk factors across age groups, sexes, countries, regions, and time. For decision-makers, the GBD approach provides a unique way to compare countries’ health progress and to understand factors that impact health such as high blood pressure, cancer, and heart disease. Led by IHME at the University of Washington, GBD is a truly global effort, with more than 16,000 researchers from over 160 countries and territories participating in the most recent update. The latest GBD includes data on topics ranging from life expectancy to mental health to non-communicable diseases. Chris, the 2023 Global Burden of Disease study covers three capstones published in The Lancet and presented at the World Health Summit in Berlin. The papers cover demographic analysis, causes of death, and diseases, injuries, and risk factors. Let’s start by talking about the demographic analysis paper. The global age-standardized mortality rate declined significantly since 1950, but that’s only part of the story. What are some of the other key findings from that paper? Christopher Murray: Well, in the demographic analysis, there’s both the long-term view of progress in expanding life expectancy that has been quite steady, except for the big interruptions due to the HIV epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa as well as the sort of mortality crises in Eastern Europe and Central Asia that occurred in the late 80s and 90s. But other than those, up to 2019, we had this sort of pattern of progress that we got used to. Then the COVID epidemic came along: 18 million deaths related to COVID and a big drop in life expectancy, and then it really was even worse in 2021 in many countries. And then it bounced back. And so by 2023, we’ve gone in most places back to 2019 levels, but not back yet to the levels we would have expected if the pandemic hadn’t occurred. So that’s one big part of the story. Another part is the fact that we’ve seen increases in child and adolescent mortality in some parts of the world, particularly some of the high-income countries – the US and Canada stand out. And then we've seen increases in mortality related to drug use disorders, suicides to some extent, in adults that are more in the 25- to 39-year range. And then there are some changes in methods and data that we now think that younger adult mortality in Africa is higher than we previously thought and older adult mortality is little bit lower than we previou

Global Burden of Disease 2023 is officially released

In Nigeria, less than 20% of the population has access to oral health care. This reflects a stark reality in many parts of the world--dental health remains one of the most neglected areas of public health. Dr. Adekemi Adeniyan, Executive Director of the Dentalcare Foundation, rural dentist, and advocate for oral health advancement in Nigeria, has been named IHME's 2025 Roux Prize winner. The Ro...

In Nigeria, less than 20% of the population has access to oral health care. This reflects a stark reality in many parts of the world--dental health remains one of the most neglected areas of public health.Dr. Adekemi Adeniyan, Executive Director of the Dentalcare Foundation, rural dentist, and advocate for oral health advancement in Nigeria, has been named IHME's 2025 Roux Prize winner. The Roux Prize recognizes individuals all over the globe who have used evidence-based health data to improve population health. The prize is sponsored by IHME’s founding board member David Roux and his wife, Barbara.• Learn more about Dr. Adeniyan's work and impact in her community: https://www.healthdata.org/research-analysis/library/2025-roux-prize-recipient-dr-adekemi-adeniyan• Read the press release announcement about Dr. Adeniyan for this year's Roux Prize: https://www.healthdata.org/news-events/newsroom/news-releases/ihmes-2025-roux-prize-awarded-rural-health-equity-advocate_______________________________Transcript
Rhonda Stewart: Welcome to Global Health Insights, a podcast from IHME, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. Hi, I’m Rhonda Stewart. In Nigeria, less than 20% of the population has access to oral health care. This reflects a stark reality: in many parts of the world, dental health remains one of the most neglected areas of public health. The Dentalcare Foundation has deployed mobile dental clinics and Nigeria’s first solar-powered tele-dental kiosks, delivering care to over 100,000 people in rural communities. Dr. Adekemi Adeniyan is the Executive Director of the Dentalcare Foundation. She is a rural dentist, advocate for oral health advancement, and winner of the 2025 Roux Prize. Now in its 12th year, the Roux Prize recognizes individuals all over the globe who have used evidence-based health data to improve population health. The prize is sponsored by IHME’s founding board member David Roux and his wife, Barbara. Dr. Adeniyan is passionate about collaboration. The Dentalcare Foundation has trained over 2,500 teachers and community health workers to promote oral health in their localities, helping to create a network of advocates that multiplies her impact across borders. Dr. Adeniyan joined the conversation from Nigeria. Dr. Adeniyan, congratulations on being named the 2025 Roux Prize winner on behalf of the Dentalcare Foundation. Before we dive into your work, tell us about why the foundation was established – what are the problems that it was created to solve? Dr. Adekemi Adeniyan: Thank you so much. It’s such an honor to be here and such an honor to be the 2025 Roux Prize winner. You know, I grew up in Agege, Lagos, Nigeria. It’s kind of a slum and a crowded community. And in that community, access to health care, especially dental care, is almost nonexistent. And for me, I saw many of our neighbors living with toothache for years. They couldn’t afford treatment. And I myself, at the age of 7, I had toothache and I couldn’t even afford to tell my parents about it because one, there was no access to a dental care facility. And at that time my parents couldn’t even afford it. So communities like this experience children’s laughter being silenced with pain. And this is something that can easily be prevented. So years later, as a dentist, I got to serve in a rural community in Nigeria. That was when I realized that little had changed. Nothing had changed. In fact, patients would travel hours to come into my dental clinic just to have one tooth removed. They wouldn't be able to pay for it. I would see many children come in, some who had never owned a toothbrush or seen a dentist in their life. And this broke my heart. Day to day, day to day. So that was why I decided to start Dentalcare Foundation – to make sure that every child has access to dental health care no matter where they are born, no matter where they find themselves. And the mission of the organization is

Advocating for access to oral health care in rural Nigeria

Development assistance for health (DAH) is at its lowest level in 15 years. This funding backs health programs around the world and addresses diseases and conditions including HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and maternal and child health.
Lead author Dr. Angela Apeagyei (Assistant Professor at IHME) and senior author Dr. Joe Dieleman (Professor at IHME) outline changes to DAH and share highlig...

Development assistance for health (DAH) is at its lowest level in 15 years. This funding backs health programs around the world and addresses diseases and conditions including HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and maternal and child health.
In 2025, many donors (including the United States) cut back sharply on their contributions. There are concerns that cuts to development assistance for health could reverse decades of progress made.
Lead author Dr. Angela Apeagyei (Assistant Professor at IHME) and senior author Dr. Joe Dieleman (Professor at IHME) outline changes to DAH and share highlights from the report, Financing Global Health in this episode. An independent population health research organization based at the University of Washington School of Medicine, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) works with collaborators around the world to develop timely, relevant, and scientifically valid evidence that illuminates the state of health everywhere. In making our research available and approachable, we aim to inform health policy and practice in pursuit of our vision: all people living long lives in full health. Learn more about IHME.Where to follow us: LinkedIn
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Financing Global Health 2025: Cuts could reverse decades of progress

“We chose these four topics to highlight some of the ongoing and emerging population health challenges faced by the region in recent years,” said Dr. Marie Ng, lead author and Affiliate Associate Professor at IHME and Associate Professor at National University of Singapore’s Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine. She discussed this four-paper series that studied the burden of mental disorders, cardio...

“We chose these four topics to highlight some of the ongoing and emerging population health challenges faced by the region in recent years,” said Dr. Marie Ng, lead author and Affiliate Associate Professor at IHME and Associate Professor at National University of Singapore’s Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine. She discussed this four-paper series that studied the burden of mental disorders, cardiovascular diseases, smoking, and injuries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region.Read the podcast transcriptRead the press release for the ASEAN series
Access each paper in the ASEAN series: Burden of mental health disorders
Burden of cardiovascular disease
Burden of smoking
Burden of injuries An independent population health research organization based at the University of Washington School of Medicine, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) works with collaborators around the world to develop timely, relevant, and scientifically valid evidence that illuminates the state of health everywhere. In making our research available and approachable, we aim to inform health policy and practice in pursuit of our vision: all people living long lives in full health. Learn more about IHME.Where to follow us: LinkedIn
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Health trends in the ASEAN region

Health care spending in the US is expected to reach more than $7 trillion by 2031. New research by IHME examines US health care spending by county and health condition and finds significant variation. Where you live, the type of care you receive, and how it’s paid for makes a difference. Understanding these trends is critical to identifying ways to reduce costs and increase access to care. We d...

Health care spending in the US is expected to reach more than $7 trillion by 2031. New research by IHME examines US health care spending by county and health condition and finds significant variation. Where you live, the type of care you receive, and how it’s paid for makes a difference. Understanding these trends is critical to identifying ways to reduce costs and increase access to care. We discuss the data with study author IHME Associate Professor Dr. Joe Dieleman. Transcript An independent population health research organization based at the University of Washington School of Medicine, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) works with collaborators around the world to develop timely, relevant, and scientifically valid evidence that illuminates the state of health everywhere. In making our research available and approachable, we aim to inform health policy and practice in pursuit of our vision: all people living long lives in full health.
Learn more about IHME: https://www.healthdata.org/ Where to follow us: LinkedIn
Facebook
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Understanding health care spending in the United States

It’s an issue across every state and every age group: sharply rising rates of overweight and obesity. The most comprehensive study of current and future trends in the United States finds that by 2050, 213 million adults and more than 43 million children and adolescents are expected to have overweight or obesity. IHME researchers note that urgent action is needed to tackle the complex factors co...

It’s an issue across every state and every age group: sharply rising rates of overweight and obesity. The most comprehensive study of current and future trends in the United States finds that by 2050, 213 million adults and more than 43 million children and adolescents are expected to have overweight or obesity. IHME researchers note that urgent action is needed to tackle the complex factors contributing to this problem. We discuss the data with study author Affiliate Associate Professor Marie Ng. Transcript An independent population health research organization based at the University of Washington School of Medicine, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) works with collaborators around the world to develop timely, relevant, and scientifically valid evidence that illuminates the state of health everywhere. In making our research available and approachable, we aim to inform health policy and practice in pursuit of our vision: all people living long lives in full health.
Learn more about IHME: https://www.healthdata.org/ Where to follow us: LinkedIn
Facebook
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The growing crisis of obesity in the US

Race, gender, and where you live can have a profound impact on your well-being. In a first-of-its kind analysis, new data shows significant disparities in individual well-being as measured by lifespan, education, and income. As researchers point out, these disparities are not merely statistics, but a call for action. We discuss the data with study author IHME Associate Professor Laura Dwyer-Lin...

Race, gender, and where you live can have a profound impact on your well-being. In a first-of-its kind analysis, new data shows significant disparities in individual well-being as measured by lifespan, education, and income. As researchers point out, these disparities are not merely statistics, but a call for action. We discuss the data with study author IHME Associate Professor Laura Dwyer-Lindgren. Transcript
An independent population health research organization based at the University of Washington School of Medicine, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) works with collaborators around the world to develop timely, relevant, and scientifically valid evidence that illuminates the state of health everywhere. In making our research available and approachable, we aim to inform health policy and practice in pursuit of our vision: all people living long lives in full health.
Learn more about IHME: https://www.healthdata.org/ Where to follow us:
LinkedIn
Facebook
X (Twitter)
YouTube

Measuring well-being across the US

Half the world’s population lacks access to essential health services. Dr. Madeleine Ballard, CEO and co-founder of the Community Health Impact Coalition (CHIC) and community health worker Prossy Muyingo discuss the critical role played by community health workers.
Transcript
On behalf of CHIC, Dr. Ballard has been named the 2024 Roux Prize winner. The Roux Prize recognizes individuals all over...

Half the world’s population lacks access to essential health services. Dr. Madeleine Ballard, CEO and co-founder of the Community Health Impact Coalition (CHIC) and community health worker Prossy Muyingo discuss the critical role played by community health workers.
Transcript
On behalf of CHIC, Dr. Ballard has been named the 2024 Roux Prize winner. The Roux Prize recognizes individuals all over the globe who have used evidence-based health data to improve population health. The prize is sponsored by IHME’s founding board member David Roux and his wife, Barbara.
An independent population health research organization based at the University of Washington School of Medicine, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) works with collaborators around the world to develop timely, relevant, and scientifically valid evidence that illuminates the state of health everywhere. In making our research available and approachable, we aim to inform health policy and practice in pursuit of our vision: all people living long lives in full health.
Learn more about IHME: https://www.healthdata.org/ Where to follow us:
LinkedIn
Facebook
X (Twitter)
YouTube

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