Global health picture

The latest global estimates for the state of the world’s health from the Global Burden of Disease study (GBD), published in a special issue of The Lancet , highlights that global progress in health is not inevitable. This year’s GBD study estimates that improvements in mortality rates for adults were less pronounced overall and stagnated or got worse in some countries in 2017. In addition, no countries are on target to meet the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals to improve health by 2030. Total fertility rates, which represent the average number of children a woman delivers over her lifetime, have declined since 1950. In 2017, 91 countries (including Singapore, Spain, Portugal, Norway, South Korea, and Cyprus) had rates lower than two and were not maintaining their current population size, while 104 nations were seeing population increases due to their high fertility rates (total fertility rates above two). Emerging adverse trends could lead to negative shifts over time if action is not taken – for example, conflict and terrorism is an increasing threat to global health (with numbers of related deaths increasing by 118 per cent during 2007-2017), and an era-defining epidemic of opioid dependence continues – with more than 4 million new cases and around 110,000 deaths in 2017. In addition, half of all global deaths were caused by just four preventable risk factors in 2017 — high blood pressure, smoking, high blood glucose and high body mass index, presenting a public health challenge and an opportunity for action. The study is coordinated by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, Seattle (US)

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved Xofluza (baloxavir marboxil) for the treatment of acute uncomplicated influenza (flu) in patients 12 years of age and older who have been symptomatic for no more than 48 hours.

“This is the first new antiviral flu treatment with a novel mechanism of action approved by the FDA in nearly 20 years. With thousands of people getting the flu every year, and many people becoming seriously ill, having safe and effective treatment alternatives is critical. This novel drug provides an important, additional treatment option,” said FDA

Commissioner Scott Gottlieb. “While there are several FDA-approved antiviral drugs to treat flu, they’re not a substitute for yearly vaccination.” Flu is a contagious respiratory illness caused by influenza viruses. When patients with the flu are treated within 48 hours of becoming sick, antiviral drugs can reduce symptoms and duration of the illness.

Cigarette smoking has reached the lowest level ever recorded among US adults, according to new data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer Institute (NCI). Still, about 47 million (1 in 5) US adults used a tobacco product in 2017, and they used a variety of smoked, smokeless, and electronic tobacco products.

“This new all-time low in cigarette smoking among US adults is a tremendous public health accomplishment – and it demonstrates the importance of continued proven strategies to reduce smoking,” said CDC Director Robert Redfield. “Despite this progress, work remains to reduce the harmful health effects of tobacco use.”

Meanwhile, the tobacco product landscape has changed in recent years to include newly developed products. In 2017, cigarettes were the most commonly used product among US adults, followed by cigars, cigarillos, or filtered little cigars; e-cigarettes; smokeless tobacco; and pipes, water pipes, or hookahs.