Overview
The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) is an independent global health research center at the University of Washington, Seattle, founded in 2007 by Christopher J. L. Murray with initial funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. IHME produces the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study series — the most comprehensive comparative assessment of mortality, morbidity, and risk factors across 195+ countries. IHME's core output is the DALY (disability-adjusted life-year), which combines premature mortality (YLLs) and disability (YLDs) into a single metric enabling cross-country and cross-disease comparisons.
Key Contributions / Features
- Publishes the GBD study series in the Lancet; most recent: GBD 2021
- U.S.-specific GBD 2010 analysis (Murray et al. / US Burden of Disease Collaborators, JAMA 2013) — foundational benchmark for U.S. population health trends
- Maintains the Global Health Data Exchange (GHDx), an open-access repository of global health data
- Produces HALE (healthy life expectancy) estimates for 187 countries
- Uses Bayesian statistical models to estimate disease prevalence and incidence where direct data are sparse
- Funded primarily by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; also by government grants and state health departments
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