Global Burden of Disease

Question 1

The purpose was to understand Global Burden of Disease in the entire world. The research was carried out in order to understand morality and some of the causes. The medical data currently available does not support the needed information and thus the need for the study. Murray & Lopez (1997) also write that the information gathered from the study will be useful for three goals, “to provide information on non-fatal health outcomes for debates on international health policy, which are generally focused on mortality; to develop unbiased epidemiological assessments for major disorders; and to quantify the burden of disease with a measure that could also be used for cost-effectiveness analysis.” This shows that the need for global health is imperative in understanding illnesses thus formulating ways to eradicate some diseases for quality life.

Question 2

Political, economical and social issues impact the burden of disease in third world countries in diverse ways. According to Orachi (2009), politics is important in formulating health care policies that have to be adhered to. When there is no political stability which can be the case for some third world countries, such policies will lack thus increase disease burdens for the citizens. Also, political aspects could impact negatively on third world countries abilities to address disease issue due to poor government pay for its government-employed doctors and nurses. In reference to economic, many third world countries are still developing which means they take up loans to support their budgets. As such, their economic status does not allow for intensive research and development in line to reducing the burden of disease for its citizens. Orachi (2009) explains that because of economic difficulties, most third world countries rely on foreign and non-profit aids which sometimes are not sufficient for disease and mortality control.
Social issues can be the stratification or hierarchy that applies to a given could (Orachi, 2009). For third world countries, the social gap is too large such that the ones on the lower spectrum are highly disadvantaged thus the burden of disease can be a bit high for them to handle. The different factors that affect third world disease can potentially affect the political, social and economic issues in the U.S. in different ways. Since most of the factors related to the three aspects, the U.S. can impact the political, social and economic environment of third world countries to mimic some of its own. Thus, there is a global environment that is encouraged between countries as far as handling third world diseases is concerned.

Question 3

The primary strata used in this study were persons from developing countries. This was further divided into sub-levels of age group, gender, location (region/country) for a better understanding and analysis of the research objective.

Question 4

In relation to the design of the project, the researchers obtain the majority of their data from already existing information. According to Murray & Lopez (1997), they used the “available vital registration data, sample registration data from India and China and small-scale population data.” These were obtained from different countries based on their availability and the system of data collection and registration in the respective region. These sources were reliable and consistent in that they were used for official recordings. To standardize the population, Murray & Lopez used both direct and indirect methods. According to Naing (2000), direct standardize involves the use of age and group distribution analysis that the project implement. For indirect standardize, transforming the data and population into a Standardized mortality ratio which the project did by formulating percentages.

Question 5

From figure 2 of the report, a population age distribution that is much younger in the developing country that in the established economies could have the effect of having younger people described in the mortality results. This could mean that for the developing economies, more people will die young as compared to the established markets. In addition to this, there us the possible effect of understanding mortality in younger populations. However, this will only reflect on developing countries than established markets. The mortality results will thus concentrate more on young population rather than the general population because the age distribution represents the majority of this sample group.

Question 6

Out of the two statistics as used for the representation of mortality, x 106 (per 100000) and (%), the easiest to use for comparison between regions will have to be the previous one. This is because it allows for an approximate number of deaths to be established. This shows that per region, the actual estimate of deaths can be reached with the simple mathematical formula. Using the latter, (%) would be beneficial in just giving figures without the need for detailed information. Therefore, it would not be the very best as far as comparison results are concerned. Data representation may be simple with the use of (%), but for a clear picture and actual figures, the statistics, x 106 (per 100000), appears to be the most appropriate.

Question 7

When comparing the three age groups as shown in figure 3, the one trend that stands out is the cause of death for each age group. Initially, more deaths are as a result of group I were both females and males have almost equal statistics. As they grow older, Murray & Lopez (2009) express that there is a change in the cause of death with more male deaths than females from group 2 causes. Lastly, group 2 is still the leading cause of death for persons in the age group 60-70.

Question 8

The confidence interval of the project could not be defined at precise 95% because it was wide from the integration of different estimation processes (Murray & Lopez, 1997). This means that the results were not easily matched if the same population was to be experimented on in different parameters. As for the uncertainty, it varied from diseases, age groups, and regions (Murray & Lopez, 1997). To help with the situation, Murray & Lopez (1997) explain that, “If there are wide CIs, decision-makers may invest resources to acquire more information to narrow the uncertainty.” As such to better assess GBD and improve on the uncertainty results, there is the need for improved surveillance and research work. There is the need to adapt greater surveillance in poor populations so as to research on effective ways to improve their sociopolitical environment.

Question 9

This study used descriptive epidemiology because of its population as grouped per age and gender. Furthermore, the locations in terms of the regions were important and lastly, the purpose of the study was determined by characteristics. CDC (2013) further explains that the results produced by a descriptive epidemiology have to estimate the prevalence of the population to a particular interest.

References

CDC (2013). Descriptive and Analytic Studies. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/globalhealth/healthprotection/fetp/training_modules/19/desc-and-analytic-studies_ppt_final_09252013.pdf
Murray, C. & Lopez, A. (1997). “Mortality by cause for eight regions of the world: Global Burden of Disease Study.” The lancet 349. 1269-1276
Naing, N. (2000). “Easy Way to Learn Standardization: Direct and Indirect Methods.” Malaysian Journal of Medical Science 7(1): 10–15. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3406211/
Orachi, C. (2009). “Health equity: challenges in low-income countries.” African Health Sciences 9(2): S49–S51. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2877288/