Measuring the Global Burden of Disease

The burden that disease places on societies around the world is complex and changing as communicable diseases are replaced by noncommunicable diseases. This article summarizes these changes and the current burden. It is difficult to deliver effective and high-quality care to patients without knowing their diagnoses; likewise, for health systems to be effective, it is necessary to understand the key challenges in efforts to improve population health and how these challenges are changing. Before the early 1990s, there was no comprehensive and internally consistent source of information on the global burden of diseases, injuries, and risk factors. To close this gap, the World Bank and the World Health Organization launched the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study in 1991.(1) Although assessments of selected diseases, injuries, and risk factors in selected populations ...