Applying burden of disease methods in developing countries: a case study from Pakistan.

Area of Science:

• Global Health
• Epidemiology
• Public Health Indicators

Background:

• Composite indicators like Disability-Adjusted Life-Year (DALY) and Healthy Life-Year (HeaLY) measure disease burden by integrating mortality and morbidity.
• These indicators are crucial for understanding health loss in national contexts, particularly in resource-poor settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the application of HeaLY and DALY in a developing country (Pakistan).
• To assess the loss of healthy life from prevalent conditions in Pakistan.
• To explore the utility of these composite indicators in resource-limited national health systems.

Main Methods:

• A comprehensive dataset for Pakistan was compiled from 180 sources, covering population and disease parameters.
• The Healthy Life-Year (HeaLY) approach was employed to quantify the loss of healthy life due to premature mortality and disability in 1990.
• Data were categorized by 58 distinct health conditions.

Main Results:

• Childhood and infectious diseases accounted for two-thirds of the total disease burden in Pakistan.
• Chronic diseases and injuries were identified among the top 10 causes of HeaLY loss.
• Disease trends in Pakistan showed consistency with regional estimates for both communicable and non-communicable diseases.

Conclusions:

• Composite indicators, such as HeaLY, are effective for assessing disease burden in developing countries like Pakistan.
• The HeaLY method provides a structured approach for national health information assessment.
• Acquiring high-quality, disease- and population-specific data presents the primary challenge for implementing such health assessment methods in developing regions.