Inappropriate measures of population health for parasitic disease?
The dominant metric for setting public health priorities, the disability-adjusted life year (DALY), is unsuited to parasitic infections. In particular, the current DALY framework fails to acknowledge the non-linear pathologies of infection, the community level dynamics of epidemiology and the co-morbidities of polyparasitism. Parasitologists must urgently provide a better way of accounting for the true costs of parasitic disease.
Payne
Robert J H
RJ
School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Woodland Road, Bristol, BS8 1UG, UK.
Turner
Laura
L
Morgan
Eric R
ER
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D015897:Comorbidity; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D006801:Humans; D010272:Parasitic Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000469:parasitology / Q000473:pathology; D011634:Public Health / Q000592:standards*; D019057:Quality-Adjusted Life Years; D055815:Young Adult