UW Regents Approve Central Campus Site for Population Health Building to House Collaborative Research and Teaching

By Victor Balta, UW News and Information

The University of Washington Board of Regents on Thursday approved the location for construction of a new building to house the UW’s Population Health Initiative. The centrally located site will bring together the work of the UW’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, Department of Global Health and parts of the School of Public Health while creating easy access for collaborators from other departments across campus and guests from around the world.

Puget Sound Business Journal: Gates Foundation Invested $545 million in the Seattle area last year

By Coral Garnick

While the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is known worldwide and makes contributions around the globe, the Seattle-based nonprofit has made hefty contributions in its hometown.

An economic impact study commissioned by the foundation shows it funneled $545 million into King, Pierce and Snohomish counties in 2015 that translated into $1.5 billion in economic activity.

Reuters: Progress Uneven as Global Child Death Rates Fall

By Andrew M. Seaman

(Reuters Health) - - Deaths among children and adolescents became less common between 1990 and 2015, but not all countries benefited equally from the improvements, according to a new analysis.

Countries with low social and economic statuses shoulder a much larger child and adolescent mortality burden compared to countries with better income, education and fertility levels, researchers found.

University of Washington Population Health Initiative Receives Transformative Gift from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

FROM: Victor Balta

University of Washington

206-543-2580 balta@uw.edu

The University of Washington’s Population Health Initiative, which aims to bring together the research and resources of the UW and partners around the Puget Sound and beyond to improve the health and well-being of people around the world, has received a significant vote of support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the university announced Tuesday.

The Atlantic: How Back Pain Took Over the World

By Olga Khazan

The newest iteration of the Global Burden of Disease study, which tracks the prevalence of deaths and diseases worldwide, contains some good news: On average people are living about a decade longer than they were in 1980. But there’s a catch: Health hasn’t improved as fast as life expectancy overall, which means that for many, those long, final years are spent hobbled by illness and disability.

Professor Theo Vos is quoted.

Humanosphere: A New Way to Measure Progress in Global Health

By Sean McKee, special to Humanosphere

The world has made tremendous progress in global health during the past 25 years, reducing the impact of some major killers like HIV or, well, childbirth, and greatly expanding access to drugs or vaccines to prevent and treat many millions of the poorest people on the planet.

But sustaining that rate of progress is likely to get a lot harder. And measuring success, or failure for that matter, is likely to get more important.

HealthDay: U.S. Life Expectancy Lags Behind Other Wealthy Nations

By Dennis Thompson

THURSDAY, Oct. 6, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- The United States lags behind other advanced nations when it comes to infant mortality and the life expectancy of its citizens, according to a comprehensive review of global health statistics.

The health of U.S. citizens is specifically challenged by smoking, diabetes, high blood pressure, drug abuse and gun violence, said study co-author Dr. Mohsen Naghavi. He's a professor with the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington in Seattle.

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