Global Health: Longer Lives, More Lifestyle Disease

Friday, October 7, 2016

Life expectancy worldwide has jumped by a decade since 1980, rising in 2015 to 69 years for men and nearly 75 for women, according to a comprehensive overview of global health released Thursday.

 These extra years came in large measure thanks to a sharp drop in deaths from communicable diseases, especially over the last decade, said the Global Burden of Disease report, published inThe Lancet.

Despite population increases, combined mortality from HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis—both major killers—fell by more than a quarter, from 3.1 million in 2005 to 2.3 million in 2015.

Over this period, annual deaths due to diarrhoeal diseases decreased by 20 percent.

Source: Medical Xpress (link opens in a new window)

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