Rates of violence and mental health problems are soaring in the Muslim-majority region of the Eastern Mediterranean, a major study revealed this week.

According to a huge body of work from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, the region stretching from Morocco to Pakistan has seen a higher increase in suicide, murder, sexual assault and mental health problems rates than any other region in the world.

The study covers several issues in the region, which is plagued by violence and conflict, over the past 25 years and concludes that "the future of the Middle East is grim".