There’s a worrying slowdown in progress against medical conditions that disable, sicken or kill.
That’s the message in an editorial in the November 10 issue of the medical journal The Lancet. The editorial accompanies reports from a massive research project called Global Burden of Disease, which counts cases of disability, illness and death around the world. In sobering words, the editorial warns that mortality rates from various conditions are no longer decreasing, new epidemics (think opioids and dengue) are occurring, and we shouldn’t be complacent. The studies themselves show an increase in obesity and a stall in life expectancy increases in countries such as the U.S. and U.K. as well as increasing rates of some conditions such as liver cancer and hypertensive heart disease.
We talked to The Lancet’s editor, Dr. Richard Horton, about why he finds the situation so grim, and where he sees hope.
Read this story now for free
To continue reading, sign up for our newsletter and get unlimited access to WABE.org
You can select your preferences for news and local content. We will never share your email address. Learn how your newsletter sign-up will support WABE and Public Media
