The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study is the most comprehensive worldwide observational epidemiological study to date. Led by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, Seattle (USA) the GBD study offers a powerful resource to understand the changing health challenges facing people across the world in the 21st century. 

Examining trends from 1990 to the present, the latest GBD study includes data on mortality and morbidity in 204 countries and territories, 369 diseases and injuries, and 87 risk factors. By tracking progress within and between countries, it provides an important tool to inform clinicians, researchers, and policy makers, promote accountability, and improve lives worldwide. 

In partnership with IHME, The Lancet has published global health estimates from the GBD study since 2010. In December 2018, the World Health Organisation and the IHME announced a formal partnership to collaborate to produce a single set of global health estimates to strengthen the validity of the GBD and improve its policy relevance and use. Every year, these capstone papers are published in a special issue of The Lancet. 

Publication of the GBD capstone papers in an academic journal is part of a deliberate effort to build a scientific discipline of estimation that is subjected to independent peer review and public scrutiny. This scientific rigour has contributed to technological developments over the years and makes the GBD an essential basis for achieving quantifiable progress in global health. Recent innovations have included the socio-demographic index and the integration of sex-specific disaggregation of the data. 

Throughout the year, Lancet journals publish additional papers exploring global trends in health outcomes, in-depth analyses of diseases, injuries, or risk factors, or country-specific analyses of population health. All GBD studies published in the Lancet family of journals follow the GATHER reporting guidelines, and are Open Access or otherwise free to read with registration. Data made available for download by IHME can also be used, shared, modified, or built upon, by non-commercial users via the Open Data Commons Attribution License.