Global Burden of Disease (GBD)

OVERVIEW

The GBD Study brought together a community of experts and leaders in epidemiology and other areas of public health research from around the world to measure current levels and recent trends in all major diseases, injuries, and risk factors, and to produce new and comprehensive sets of estimates and easy-to-use tools for research and teaching. This ambitious effort was conducted systematically and transparently, with both methods and results publicly accessible, accompanied with an extensive training component.

The GBD Study was led by a consortium that includes the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHSPH), Harvard University, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, the University of Queensland, and the World Health Organization (WHO).

OBJECTIVES

The study had two major objectives:

1. Produce estimates of the burden of diseases, injuries and risk factors for 1990 and 2005, using new data and improved techniques
2. Develop a series of tools for use by specific audiences, to standardize and broaden burden of disease research and analysis.

Funding Source:  The GBD project was generously funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.