Introduction to Global Burden of Disease (GBD)
1. Introduction: Why Measure Disease Burden? Understanding population health requires more than simply counting deaths. Traditional health statistics often focus on mortality alone , which fails to capture the full impact of disease, particularly non-fatal conditions such as disability, mental illness, and chronic disease . The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) framework was developed to address this limitation by providing a comprehensive and comparable measure of health loss across populations, diseases, and time . At its core, GBD answers a critical question: How much healthy life is lost due to diseases, injuries, and risk factors? This approach is essential for: Priority setting in public health Resource allocation Evaluating interventions Comparing health systems globally 2. Concept of Burden of Disease 2.1 Definition The burden of disease refers to the total impact of disease and injury , including: Premature death (mortality) Disability (morbidity) These are combined into a sing...