April 18, 2008

Global Burden of Disease: Asymmetries of Poverty

Dear colleagues, bellow are some updates from an open access journal published by PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases.

Asymmetries of Poverty: Why Global Burden of Disease Valuations Underestimate the Burden of Neglected Tropical Diseases
Charles H. King, Anne-Marie Bertino
Center for Global Health and Diseases, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2(3): e209. doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0000209
Available online at: http://www.plosntds.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pntd.0000209
"......The disability-adjusted life year (DALY) initially appeared attractive as a health metric in the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) program, as it purports to be a comprehensive health assessment that encompassed premature mortality, morbidity, impairment, and disability. It was originally thought that the DALY would be useful in policy settings, reflecting normative valuations as a standardized unit of ill health......"