The measurement and quantification of population health could assist health policy making and priority setting. In the past decades there have been major advancements in burden of disease research, mainly led and stimulated by the Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD). This course will give an overview on the concepts and methods used to quantify the burden of disease at the national and global level. The GBD will be a main focus of this course, but other alternative approaches will also be introduced. The course consists of lectures, computer labs, and group-based projects.

In the course, students will understand the key concepts and elements in burden of disease studies and comment on the strengths and limitations of burden of disease studies. They will also understand the estimating procedures of the GBD study and be familiar with and be able to use the major databases of GBD while acknowledging their limitations. At the end of the course the students are expected to: 1. Explain the role of quantitative and qualitative methods and sciences in describing and assessing a population’s health (D17-3) 2. List major causes and trends of morbidity and mortality in the US or other community relevant to the school or program (D17-4)

The course will be offered in English. Basic understanding of key concepts of epidemiology and biostatistics will be helpful but is not absolutely required

1. Lopez AD, Mathers CD, Ezzati M, Jamison DT, Murray CJL (Eds.). Global Burden of Disease and Risk Factors. Washington, DC: Oxford University Press and Word Bank, 2006 2. Smith JN. Epic Measures. New York: HarperCollins Publishers; 2015 3. Flaxman AD, Vos T, Murray CJL (Eds.). An Integrative Metaregression Framework for Descriptive Epidemiology. Seattle and London: University of Washington Press; 2015