The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington has launched the Roux Prize, a new US$100,000 award to recognize individuals or groups that have used Global Burden of Disease (GBD) data to take action that makes people healthier.

The prize is named for David and Barbara Roux. David Roux is a founding board member of IHME. Over the past decade, he has encouraged the Institute not to let GBD data sit on a shelf and go unused but to look for ways to make it accessible and useful.

Nominees may come from anywhere in the world and could include, but are not limited to, staff in government agencies, researchers at academic institutions, volunteers in charitable organizations, or health providers working in the community. Nominations are due March 31, 2014, and the winner will be announced at an event in September 2014.

The Roux Prize is intended for anyone who has applied Global Burden of Disease research in innovative ways to improve population health since the first GBD publication in 1993. The winner will receive US$100,000, making the Roux Prize the largest award focused on individuals contributing to population health.

"Dave Roux's commitment to IHME has long inspired us to look for ways to bring GBD to the wider public beyond our core audiences of policymakers, researchers, and others working in population health," said IHME director Dr Christopher Murray. "The Roux Prize can transform the way that data are used to drive action that will have lasting health impact."

GBD is a systematic, scientific effort to quantify the comparative magnitude of health loss due to diseases, injuries, and risk factors. In 1993, the original GBD study was funded by the World Bank and featured in its landmark World Development Report 1993: Investing in Health. Co-authored by Dr Murray, this study included estimates for 107 diseases and 483 non-fatal health consequences in eight regions and five age groups.

GBD 2010, a collaborative effort with almost 500 co-authors led by IHME and published in The Lancet in 2012, provides results for 291 diseases and injuries, 67 risk factors, and 1,160 non-fatal health consequences for 21 global regions, 20 age groups and both sexes, and 187 countries. The
results are available in a series of online data visualization tools at http://ihmeuw.org/GBDcountryviz. In 2014, IHME will begin publishing annual updates of the GBD estimates.

"IHME has led the way in promoting the idea that dramatic change is possible through better understanding of health challenges based on rigorous data," said Michael Young, president of the University of Washington. "The Roux Prize will honor current and up-and-coming health
leaders who emulate this approach."

Data on disease burden have led to changes on a variety of health issues, ranging from global tobacco control to better diagnosis and treatment of children with diabetes in Ghana to laws in Vietnam encouraging helmet use among riders of motorcycles and bicycles to reduce road injury deaths. Details on the nomination process and criteria are available on the IHMEwebsite at www.rouxprize.org http://www.ihmeuw.org/rouxprize.