title: Overview of the burden of diseases in North Korea.
abstract: This article evaluates the overall current disease burden of North Korea through the recent databases of international organizations. It is notable that North Korea as a nation is exhibiting a relatively low burden from deaths and that there is greater burden from deaths caused by non-communicable diseases than from those caused by communicable diseases and malnutrition. However, the absolute magnitude of problems from communicable diseases like TB and from child malnutrition, which will increase the disease burden in the future, remains great. North Korea, which needs to handle both communicable and nutritional conditions, and non-communicable diseases, whose burden is ever more increasing in the nation, can now be understood as a country with the 'double-burden' of disease.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Public Health, Korea University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Yo Han
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Seok-Jun
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.forename: Young Ae
authors.initials: YA
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Ji Won
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Yeom
authors.forename: In-Hwan
authors.initials: IH
authors.lastname: Oh
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D015362:Child Nutrition Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality*; D016208:Databases, Factual; D056911:Democratic People's Republic of Korea; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008875:Middle Aged; D009752:Nutritional Status; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Childhood malnutrition; Communicable diseases; Democratic People's Republic of Korea; Disease burden; Mortality; Non-communicable disease