Saloni Dattani
Saloni joined us as a researcher in 2021. She is a Project Lead at focusing on health. She has a Ph.D. in psychiatric genetics from the University of Hong Kong and King’s College London.
Saloni Dattani
Saloni joined us as a researcher in 2021. She is a Project Lead at focusing on health. She has a Ph.D. in psychiatric genetics from the University of Hong Kong and King’s College London.
Topics covered by Saloni on żČöÓéŔÖ
Featured work
How does the risk of death change as we age – and how has this changed over time?
Death rates decline rapidly after birth but rise again in adolescence. From adulthood onwards, they rise exponentially.
Why do women live longer than men?
Women tend to live longer than men in all countries — but the sex gap in life expectancy is not a constant.
What were the death tolls from pandemics in history?
Pandemics have killed millions of people throughout history. How many deaths were caused by different pandemics, and how have researchers estimated their death tolls?
Latest work
April 21, 2025
How effective and safe are measles vaccines?
Data from large meta-analyses show that measles vaccination is highly effective and safe, reducing the chances of getting measles by 95%.
February 24, 2025
The baby boom in seven charts
The baby boom reshaped family life and drove population growth in many countries. In this article, we explore the key patterns in seven charts.
February 24, 2025
Why the total fertility rate doesn’t necessarily tell us the number of births women eventually have
The total fertility rate is commonly confused with the eventual number of births per woman. This can result in misinterpreting the impact of policies and trends over time.
December 23, 2024
What was the Golden Age of Antibiotics, and how can we spark a new one?
Many antibiotics were developed during the “Golden Age of Antibiotics”. How did it happen, why has antibiotic development slowed down since then, and what can we do to reignite it?
December 23, 2024
How do antibiotics work, and how does antibiotic resistance evolve?
To use antibiotics more effectively, it’s important to know how different antibiotics work and how antibiotic resistance evolves and spreads.
November 18, 2024
17 key charts to understand the COVID-19 pandemic
The pandemic has resulted in over twenty million deaths. In this article, we review the key insights from global data on COVID-19.
November 18, 2024
How our team at żČöÓéŔÖ became a global data source on COVID-19
Our small team made COVID-19 data clear, reliable, and accessible to a global audience. This is how it happened.
November 15, 2024
Future updates of our data on COVID-19
We list our datasets on COVID-19 and the frequency with which we will update them going forward.
November 04, 2024
HPV vaccination: How the world can eliminate cervical cancer
HPV vaccines offer a rare opportunity to effectively eliminate one type of cancer. By taking this opportunity, it’s possible to save hundreds of thousands of women each year.
August 26, 2024
Antipsychotic medications: a timeline of innovations and remaining challenges
Scientists have developed effective and safer antipsychotic medications, but much improvement is still needed.
August 05, 2024
How do global statistics on suicide differ between sources?
To better monitor and prevent suicides globally, it's crucial to understand how they are measured and estimated by different sources.
June 17, 2024
Trachoma: how a common cause of blindness can be prevented worldwide
The world has seen a large decline in trachoma, but millions are still at risk. How can we make more progress against it?
May 27, 2024
New polio vaccines are key to preventing outbreaks and achieving eradication
To reach the goal of polio eradication, we can use new vaccines to contain outbreaks and improve testing, outbreak responses, and sanitation.
May 13, 2024
The rise in reported maternal mortality rates in the US is largely due to a change in measurement
Maternal mortality rates appear to have risen in the last 20 years in the US. But this reflects a change in measurement rather than an actual rise in mortality.
May 01, 2024
Key lessons from our work on the COVID-19 pandemic are now published in Lancet Public Health
Our peer-reviewed article outlines seven ways to publish data better.
December 14, 2023
What are the different types of cardiovascular diseases, and how many deaths do they cause?
Cardiovascular diseases are a range of related health conditions that develop in the heart and blood vessels. What are the different diseases, and what is their impact worldwide?
November 27, 2023
Period versus cohort measures: what’s the difference?
What do the terms “period” and “cohort” mean in statistics? How do they differ, and why does it matter?
October 09, 2023
How do statistical organizations define age periods for children?
Neonates, infants, children: what age ranges do these terms refer to?
August 09, 2023
How do researchers estimate the death toll caused by each risk factor, whether it’s smoking, obesity, or air pollution?
Risk factors are important to understand because they can help us identify how to save lives. How do researchers estimate their impact?
August 09, 2023
How are causes of death registered around the world?
In many countries, when people die, the cause of their death is officially registered in their country’s national system. How is this determined?
August 09, 2023
Risk ratios, odds ratios, risk differences: How do researchers calculate the risk from a risk factor?
The effects of risk factors can be calculated in different ways. How are they calculated and interpreted?
August 09, 2023
Why isn’t it possible to sum up the death toll from different risk factors?
Deaths caused by each risk factor can’t be added up. By understanding why, we will have a better understanding of how many lives can be saved with each intervention.
May 26, 2023
How do researchers study the prevalence of mental illnesses?
Global data on mental health is essential to understand the scale and patterns of these illnesses, and how to reduce them. How do researchers collect this data, and how reliable is it?
May 26, 2023
How are mental illnesses defined?
Mental illnesses are a range of conditions that significantly affect people’s lives. What are their symptoms?
October 20, 2022
How many people die from the flu?
The risk of death from influenza has declined over time, but globally, hundreds of thousands of people still die from the disease each year.
July 07, 2022
Guinea worm disease is close to being eradicated – how was this progress achieved?
In the late 1980s, there were near a million new cases of guinea worm disease recorded worldwide. In 2021, there were only 15. How was this achieved?
June 09, 2022
We need more testing to eradicate polio worldwide
The world is close to eradicating polio, but has been set back in the last few years. To achieve the goal of global eradication, it's crucial to improve testing.
May 18, 2022
What is the lifetime risk of depression?
Depression is one of the world’s most common health conditions. It's estimated that one-in-three women and one-in-five men have an episode of major depression by the age of 65.
April 20, 2022
Estimation of the number of paralytic polio cases by region
Only a fraction of all polio cases are reported. Here we apply a method by Tebbens et al. (2010) to estimate the actual number of global polio cases.
April 07, 2022
At what age do people experience depression for the first time?
People are being diagnosed with depression at an earlier age than in the past because of increased openness to mental health disorders and improved diagnostic guidelines.
February 10, 2022
Why randomized controlled trials matter and the procedures that strengthen them
Randomized controlled trials are a key tool to study cause and effect. Why do they matter and how do they work?
September 01, 2021
Depression is complicated – this is how our understanding of the condition has evolved over time
December 16, 2020
Coronavirus (COVID-19) Vaccinations
November 01, 2020
Coronavirus (COVID-19) Hospitalizations
May 22, 2020
Excess mortality during the Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19)
May 07, 2020
Coronavirus (COVID-19) Testing
May 05, 2020
Mortality Risk of COVID-19
May 02, 2020
Coronavirus (COVID-19) Cases
May 01, 2020