Introduction: Traditional indicators to estimate burden of disease, e.g. morbidity and mortality are being challenged by newly developed composite indicators. Among others, these include: disability adjusted life years (DALYs), introduced by The World Bank's World Development Report 1993, and healthy life years (HeaLYs) which were developed by the Department of International Health at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. The specific objectives of this presentation will be; to discuss the rationale for using composite indicators for national burden of disease assessment and to compare the burden of different diseases in terms of loss of healthy life for three countries: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Uganda. Methods: Researchers in respective countries collated the data using national health databases and this data has been used to calculate the loss of healthy life. Results: Preliminary results indicate that in Saudi Arabian younger population majority of HeaLYs are lost due to injuries, while among the older population cardiovascular diseases are the major cause of the loss of healthy life. Estimates for Uganda and Pakistan will be presented and a comparison of the mortality, disability, and cause-specific burden will be shown. Conclusion: The study will demonstrate the similarities and differences in disease burden in these three countries of Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East. It will examine the impact of communicable and non-communicable conditions on the disease burden for such countries. Finally, policy recommendations based on the results of this study will be highlighted which will aim at rationing the health care resources.
Learning Objectives: The learning objectives of this presentation will be: 1. To describe the composite measures of health for burden of disease assessment 2. Application of the burden of disease methods to developing countries, and 3. To dicuss the comparative nature of loss of healthy life in three countries.
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.