A Quantitative Method of Assessing the Health Impact of Different Diseases in Less Developed Countries

A method is described for assessing quantitatively the relative importance of different disease problems on the health of a population. The impact of a disease on a community is measured by the number of healthy days of life which are lost through illness, disability and death as a consequence of the disease. The measure is derived by combining information on the incidence rate, the case fatality rate and the extent and duration of disability produced by the disease. In Ghana, it is estimated that malaria, measles, childhood pneumonia, sickle cell disease and severe malnutrition are the 5 most important causes of loss of healthy life and between them they account for 34% of healthy life lost due to all diseases. The methodology may be used to help determine the priorities for the allocation of resources to alternative health improvement procedures by estimating the number of healthy days of life which are likely to be saved by different procedures and by relating these savings to the costs of the procedures.