The Lancet presents the most recent update on the global, regional, and national causes of death. Against a backdrop of increased global improvements in life-expectancy, death rates for some causes – including drug use and liver cancer – continue to rise.

The evolution of resistance to antimicrobial chemotherapy is a major and growing cause of human mortality and morbidity. Comparatively little attention has been paid to how different patient treatment strategies shape the evolution of resistance. In particular, it is not clear whether treating individual patients aggressively with high drug dosages and long treatment durations, or moderately with low dosages and short durations can better prevent the evolution and spread of drug resistance.