Global Burden of Disease Study 2023 launched at Berlin World Health Summit.
GNAPH President John Middleton, Immediate Past President Laura Magaña, and Association of Schools of Public Health in Africa President and GNAPH member Margaret Kaseje were in Berlin earlier this month for the World Health Summit. John Middleton reports here on the launch of the latest edition of the Global Burden of Disease Study.
GBD: A Picture of Heath Improving, but Unequally, and with Alarming Disaparities
The Global Burden of Disease Study 2023 was launched at the World Health Summit in Berlin on Sunday October 12th, 2025. The report highlights some major advances in global health with substantial reductions in deaths under five years and all causes mortality. Yet inequalities in health persist and widen both between and within nations. There are some stark findings which should be of concern to all and a call to action by our policy makers, public health and heath service communities is critical.
The IHME press release is a great summary for those who understandably don’t have the time to get through the data and detail of the report, which you can read here. The key takeaways listed below are crucial to our understanding of how health is improving or worsening, and where, in the world today.
Key takeaways:
- Global life expectancy in 2023 is more than 20 years higher compared to 1950, and the age-standardized mortality rate is 67% lower, with all 204 countries and territories reporting declines.
- Despite these improvements, the world faces an emerging crisis of higher death rates in adolescents and young adults in North America and Latin America due to suicide and drug and alcohol consumption and in sub-Saharan Africa due to infectious diseases and unintentional injuries.
- Non-communicable diseases account for nearly two-thirds of the world’s total mortality and morbidity, led by ischemic heart disease, stroke, and diabetes, emerging in the top ten causes.
- The burden of mental disorders continues to surge globally, with anxiety and depression increasing death and disability by 63% and 26%, respectively. IHME, 2025.
Almost half of the global mortality and morbidity in 2023 was attributable to 88 modifiable risk factors. The 10 risk factors with the highest proportion of health loss were high systolic blood pressure, particulate matter pollution, smoking, high fasting plasma glucose, low birthweight and short gestation, high BMI, high LDL cholesterol, kidney dysfunction, child growth failure, and lead exposure. Between 2010 and 2023, DALY rates for high BMI rose by almost 11%, drug use by nearly 9%, and high blood sugar by 6%.
Sahel Health: Neglect, the Advance of Deserts through Climate Breakdown, Conflict, Environmental and Infectious Disease.
Countries in the Sahel region of Africa are particularly affected by the direct consequences of climate breakdown with the advance of deserts and destruction of arable lands. The region is also plagued by war, famine, and pestilence with excess mortality from violence, mass migration and starvation. NCDs are now the major cause of adult deaths. There have been considerable improvements in child survival under 5, and particularly from diarrheal disease and other infectious causes, but for older children and adolescents there is an increasing toll in vaccine preventable disease and violence. Life expectancy overall lags massively behind the rest of the world. Considerable international effort will be needed to improve the lives and economies of people in the region which still suffers the consequences of colonial legacies and neocolonial exploitation of minerals and natural resources. And the Sahara’s biggest resource, the Sun, could be Africa’s and the world’s renewable energy solution, to the problem of climate breakdown.
Mental Health Findings: We are Failing our Young People
Of particular concern in the GBD is the alarming findings in relation to the surge of mental health problems as a cause of increasing years lived with disability – especially for adolescents.
In 2021, an estimated 123 million new cases of mental disorders were reported among children and adolescents, with an 11.8% annual increase during the pandemic period. Globally, one in seven 10-19-year-olds experienced a mental disorder, accounting for 15% of the global burden of disease in this age group. Anxiety disorders became the leading cause of nonfatal disability in this group, overtaking previous rankings, and depressive disorders also rose significantly in burden. This increase was most pronounced among females, those aged 15–24, and in high sociodemographic index regions. Overall, mental disorders are the leading cause of non-fatal disease burden globally, with a persistent rise in prevalence among younger populations. The age of onset for most mental disorders peaks around 15 years, underscoring adolescence as a critical period for intervention. The pandemic is linked with a sharp increase in anxiety, depression, and related symptoms among youth, especially in high-income countries, attributed to societal disruptions like lockdowns, educational interruptions, and family stress.
The key-measured-drivers of increased mental health disability burden in adolescents are primarily sexual abuse and bullying, intimate partner violence, environmental toxins like lead, and the multifaceted indirect impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
These findings point to the urgent need for targeted mental health support programs in adolescents, including school-based clinics and digital mental health platforms, as well as incorporating mental health into public health preparedness and recovery strategies post-pandemic. The data also suggest a future where anxiety, depression, and some behavioral disorders may continue to rise in youth populations without major intervention efforts. Mental distress is understandable and inevitable in the context of the uncertain and unstable world in which young people are growing to adulthood, where they see no hope for their own future.
What Do We Do Next?
Launches of the Global Burden of Disease studies are always major events and demand our attention and our action. The declining state of mental health must be a major concern, particularly where it is affecting our young people. Equally clear, the plight of people of the Sahel region of Africa needs international efforts for peace, for climate mitigations, and for better heath interventions for all. Colleagues in the global academic public health community must rise to the challenge of these major findings from the Global Burden of Disease study.
We must find ways to turn the GBD findings into urgent action, through our delivery of effective, and timely, teaching.
The opinions expressed in this post are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of GNAPH or its members.
