An IHME-led study published in the Lancet examined health in countries such as Syria, Tunisia and Yemen from 1990 to 2013 found that since the Arab Spring began in 2010, a combination of increased violence and a collapse in health care has led to the drop of the region’s average expected life span. In Syria, a deadly and complex civil war that continues to ravage the country has resulted in a particularly precipitous drop in life expectancy.