Measuring universal health coverage based on an index of effective coverage of health services in 204 countries and territories, 1990-2019: a systema…

2020

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Erosion of universal health coverage in Spain

2013

Whereas the recent UN resolution urges governments to accelerate progress towards universal access to affordable and quality health-care services, the Spanish Government, bypassing the parliamentary procedure, enacted a Royal Decree to limit access to free services at the point of delivery for all-undermining the principle of universal coverage. Spanish health and social service budgets have been subjected to large cuts (13,7% in 2012 and 16,2% in 2013) with some regions imposing additional budget cuts.

Heterogeneous contributions of change in population distribution of body mass index to change in obesity and underweight

2021

From 1985 to 2016, the prevalence of underweight decreased, and that of obesity and severe obesity increased, in most regions, with significant variation in the magnitude of these changes across regions. We investigated how much change in mean body mass index (BMI) explains changes in the prevalence of underweight, obesity, and severe obesity in different regions using data from 2896 population-based studies with 187 million participants. Changes in the prevalence of underweight and total obesity, and to a lesser extent severe obesity, are largely driven by shifts in the distribution of BMI, with smaller contributions from changes in the shape of the distribution. In East and Southeast Asia…

The timing of introduction of pharmaceutical innovations in seven European countries

2014

RATIONALE, AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: Differences in the performance of medical care may be due to variation in the introduction and diffusion of medical innovations. The objective of this paper is to compare seven European countries (United Kingdom, the Netherlands, West Germany, France, Spain, Estonia and Sweden) with regard to the year of introduction of six specific pharmaceutical innovations (antiretroviral drugs, cimetidine, tamoxifen, cisplatin, oxalaplatin and cyclosporin) that may have had important population health impacts. METHODS: We collected information on introduction and further diffusion of drugs using searches in the national and international literature, and questionnaires to …

Towards a European strategy to address the COVID-19 pandemic

2021

The governments' doctors: the roles and responsibilities of chief medical officers in the European Union.

2010

The regular meetings of the chief medical officers (CMOs) from the European Union's (EU's) 27 Member States provide an important forum to address issues of common interest affecting Europe's populations. Yet there is no universally agreed role for a CMO. This article describes the findings of a study, based on interviews with key informants and documentary analysis that sought to describe their diverse roles. For the purpose of this article, CMOs are defined as those sent by their governments to the regular EU meetings of CMOs. Four broad categories of countries were identified: those whose CMO is the most senior doctor in the health ministry, in some cases with responsibility spanning all …

Author response: Heterogeneous contributions of change in population distribution of body mass index to change in obesity and underweight

2020

Making progress against cancer in Europe in 2008.

2008

Europe is facing a cancer epidemic, with rapidly increasing incidence rates. Population growth and ageing will further increase the annual number of new patients with cancer. Cancer is a huge and growing contributor to the burden of disease and premature death within the European Union (EU). One in four of all deaths in the EU is attributable to cancer, and in the age range 45-64 years, the figure is almost one in two deaths. The 27 EU Member States differ greatly in cancer incidence, mortality and survival. Yet at least one-third of the cancer burden is preventable and a further third can be detected early and treated effectively, even on the basis of existing knowledge. "Cancer", however,…

Ebola: an open letter to European governments.

2014

After months of inaction and neglect from the international community, the Ebola epidemic in west Africa has now spiralled utterly out of control. Today, the virus is a threat not only to the countries where the outbreak has overwhelmed the capacity of national health systems, but also to the entire world. We urge our governments to mobilise all possible resources to assist west Africa in controlling this horrific epidemic. Based on our expertise in public health and emergency response, we believe the following measures would be particularly eff ective. First, with regards to human resources, given the huge need for trained health-care professionals in west Africa, we urge European governme…

Global burden of 369 diseases and injuries in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study …

2020

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The COVID-19 vaccines rush: participatory community engagement matters more than ever

2021

Global burden of 87 risk factors in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

2020

Background Rigorous analysis of levels and trends in exposure to leading risk factors and quantification of their effect on human health are important to identify where public health is making progress and in which cases current efforts are inadequate. The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019 provides a standardised and comprehensive assessment of the magnitude of risk factor exposure, relative risk, and attributable burden of disease. Methods GBD 2019 estimated attributable mortality, years of life lost (YLLs), years of life lived with disability (YLDs), and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) for 87 risk factors and combinations of risk factors, at the…

The global burden of cancer attributable to risk factors, 2010–19 : A systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

2022

Background: Understanding the magnitude of cancer burden attributable to potentially modifiable risk factors is crucial for development of effective prevention and mitigation strategies. We analysed results from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019 to inform cancer control planning efforts globally. Methods: The GBD 2019 comparative risk assessment framework was used to estimate cancer burden attributable to behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risk factors. A total of 82 risk-outcome pairs were included on the basis of the World Cancer Research Fund criteria. Estimated cancer deaths and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) in 20…

Mapping 123 million neonatal, infant and child deaths between 2000 and 2017

2019

Since 2000, many countries have achieved considerable success in improving child survival, but localized progress remains unclear. To inform efforts towards United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3.2—to end preventable child deaths by 2030—we need consistently estimated data at the subnational level regarding child mortality rates and trends. Here we quantified, for the period 2000–2017, the subnational variation in mortality rates and number of deaths of neonates, infants and children under 5 years of age within 99 low- and middle-income countries using a geostatistical survival model. We estimated that 32% of children under 5 in these countries lived in districts that had attained ra…

Innovations in medical care and mortality trends from four circulatory diseases between 1970 and 2005

2013

Background: Governments have identified innovation in pharmaceuticals and medical technology as a priority for health policy. Although the contribution of medical care to health has been studied extensively in clinical settings, much less is known about its contribution to population health. We examine how innovations in the management of four circulatory disorders have influenced trends in cause-specific mortality at the population level. Methods: Based on literature reviews, we selected six medical innovations with proven effectiveness against hypertension, ischaemic heart disease, heart failure and cerebrovascular disease. We combined data on the timing of these innovations and cause-spe…

Global, regional, and national age-sex specific all-cause and cause-specific mortality for 240 causes of death, 1990-2013: a systematic analysis for …

2015

Background Up-to-date evidence on levels and trends for age-sex-specific all-cause and cause-specific mortality is essential for the formation of global, regional, and national health policies. In the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013 (GBD 2013) we estimated yearly deaths for 188 countries between 1990, and 2013. We used the results to assess whether there is epidemiological convergence across countries. Methods We estimated age-sex-specific all-cause mortality using the GBD 2010 methods with some refinements to improve accuracy applied to an updated database of vital registration, survey, and census data. We generally estimated cause of death as in the GBD 2010. Key improvements included…

A look into the future of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe : an expert consultation

2021

How will the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic develop in the coming months and years? Based on an expert survey, we examine key aspects that are likely to influence COVID-19 in Europe. The future challenges and developments will strongly depend on the progress of national and global vaccination programs, the emergence and spread of variants of concern, and public responses to nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs). In the short term, many people are still unvaccinated, VOCs continue to emerge and spread, and mobility and population mixing is expected to increase over the summer. Therefore, policies that lift restrictions too much and too early risk another damaging wave. This ch…

The UK needs a sustainable strategy for COVID-19

2020

The UK is well into the second wave of COVID-19, with 60 051 lives lost to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection to date, according to provisional data from the Office for National Statistics. Official UK Government data show that cases have been rising exponentially since late August, 2020, with increases across all regions in England in recent weeks.As of Nov 4, 2020, the UK had 25 177 confirmed daily cases. These are almost certainly underestimates as between Oct 17 and Oct 23, 2020, England alone had 52 000 estimated daily cases.Estimates of the effective reproduction number in England vary between 1.1 and 1.6.Daily deaths have doubled every fortnight si…

Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 79 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risk…

2015

Summary Background The Global Burden of Disease, Injuries, and Risk Factor study 2013 (GBD 2013) is the first of a series of annual updates of the GBD. Risk factor quantification, particularly of modifiable risk factors, can help to identify emerging threats to population health and opportunities for prevention. The GBD 2013 provides a timely opportunity to update the comparative risk assessment with new data for exposure, relative risks, and evidence on the appropriate counterfactual risk distribution. Methods Attributable deaths, years of life lost, years lived with disability, and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) have been estimated for 79 risks or clusters of risks using the GBD 2…

Will austerity cuts dismantle the Spanish healthcare system?

2013

In the face of austerity, a series of disconnected “reforms” could, without corrective measures, lead to the effective dismantling of large parts of the Spanish healthcare system, with potentially detrimental effects on health. Helena Legido-Quigley and colleagues explain.

Rising rural body-mass index is the main driver of the global obesity epidemic in adults

2019

Body-mass index (BMI) has increased steadily in most countries in parallel with a rise in the proportion of the population who live in cities(.)(1,2) This has led to a widely reported view that urbanization is one of the most important drivers of the global rise in obesity(3-6). Here we use 2,009 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight in more than 112 million adults, to report national, regional and global trends in mean BMI segregated by place of residence (a rural or urban area) from 1985 to 2017. We show that, contrary to the dominant paradigm, more than 55% of the global rise in mean BMI from 1985 to 2017-and more than 80% in some low- and middle-income regions…

Height and body-mass index trajectories of school-aged children and adolescents from 1985 to 2019 in 200 countries and territories: a pooled analysis…

2020

BACKGROUND: Comparable global data on health and nutrition of school-aged children and adolescents are scarce. We aimed to estimate age trajectories and time trends in mean height and mean body-mass index (BMI), which measures weight gain beyond what is expected from height gain, for school-aged children and adolescents.

Worldwide trends in body-mass index, underweight, overweight, and obesity from 1975 to 2016: a pooled analysis of 2416 population-based measurement s…

2017

© 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 licenseBackground Underweight, overweight, and obesity in childhood and adolescence are associated with adverse health consequences throughout the life-course. Our aim was to estimate worldwide trends in mean body-mass index (BMI) and a comprehensive set of BMI categories that cover underweight to obesity in children and adolescents, and to compare trends with those of adults. Methods We pooled 2416 population-based studies with measurements of height and weight on 128·9 million participants aged 5 years and older, including 31·5 million aged 5–19 years. We used a Bayesian hierarchical model …

A century of trends in adult human height

2016

Article

Trends in adult body-mass index in 200 countries from 1975 to 2014: a pooled analysis of 1698 population-based measurement studies with 19.2 million …

2016

Copyright © NCD Risk Factor Collaboration. Open Access article distributed under the terms of CC BY.