Global Burden of Disease Project

The Global Burden of Disease Project (GBDP) draws on a wide range of data sources to produce consistent estimates of the cost of morbidity and mortality worldwide, as defined by the years of healthy life lost due to injury and illness. The GBDP is conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) and updates the Global Burden of Disease Study for the year 1990, whichwascommissionedbytheWorldBankandcarried out by the WHO and Harvard University in 1992. Both the original study and the GBDP quantify the burden of disease using the concept of the disabilityadjusted life year (DALY), which allows an estimation of the total years of healthy life in a population by combining two types of information. Years of life lost (YLL) represent the cost of premature mortality, ...