Visit “Global: Both Sexes, All Ages, 2016, DALYs” on the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation
GBD Compare Data Visualization Hub website. Compare the primary causes of disability-adjusted life
years (DALYs) from countries in two different socio-demographic index levels or economic regions.
Identify three social or political-economic differences that help explain the differences you observed.
Discuss the utility of the disability-adjusted life year (DALY) measure as a composite measure of
health. Why is the DALY helpful given the different categories of Communicable, Noncommunicable,
and Injury when it comes to comparing mortality and morbidity?
2 DQ 2
Compare the primary causes of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) from countries in
two different socio-demographic index levels or economic regions.
In Georgia, the various causes of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) comprised of ischemic
heart disease, depression, anxiety, stroke, diabetes, asthma, among other factors. In Costa Rica,
the leading causes included ischemic heart disease, respiratory infections, and cerebrovascular
disease.
Identify three social or political-economic differences that help explain the differences you
observed.
One of the social differences that result in the differences pointed above is based on the existence
of different social preferences in the various nations (Mathers, 2009). The other differences are
based on the demographic and economic traditions of the multiple populations in these nations.
Discuss the utility of the DALY measure as a composite health measure.
The DALYs are an essential component in the measurement of health in the different nations.
For instance, they are useful in measuring the loss of individuals’ healthy lives based on fatal and
nonfatal conditions. The DALYs is also a summation of years of lives lost because of premature
mortality. DALYs also represent the years in which an individual lives with a disability. The
years are adjusted for duration and severity because of the different conditions. In this context, 1
DALY is usually equated to a 1-year loss of a healthy life.
Why is the DALY helpful given the different categories of Communicable,
Noncommunicable, and Injury when comparing mortality and morbidity?
DALY is useful in indicating the overall burden of a disease in a region. One DALY
usually presents the loss that is equated to one year of full health. DALY is quite helpful in the
different categories of illnesses and injuries which an individual may be prone to in that they are
used in guiding the different health systems, priority setting, and investments (Misganaw,
Melaku, Tessema, Deribew, Deribe, Abera & Amare, 2017). Therefore, this results in the
coming up of ideal structures that can be implemented to ensure that cases of premature deaths,
among other risk factors, are resolved.
References
Mathers, C. (2009). Global burden of disease among women, children, and adolescents.
In Maternal and Child Health (pp. 19-42). Springer, Boston, MA.
Misganaw, A., Melaku, Y. A., Tessema, G. A., Deribew, A., Deribe, K., Abera, S. F., … &
Amare, A. T. (2017). National disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) for 257 diseases
and injuries in Ethiopia, 1990–2015: findings from the global burden of disease study
2015. Population health metrics, 15(1), 28.