title: Understanding the burden of disease in Nepal: a call for local evidence.
abstract: The burden of disease, most commonly expressed in terms of Disability-Adjusted Life Years, has become a crucial component in decision making processes within the health sector. In Nepal, however, burden of disease estimates are scarce and lack representativeness. To improve our understanding of the burden of disease in Nepal and thereby increase the efficiency of health policies, there is an urgent need to strengthen the local evidence base. All relevant stakeholders should therefore collaborate to generate new data, improve existing data generation mechanisms, make generated data available, and optimize the use of available data.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Health and Society (IRSS), Faculty of Public Health, Universite catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Devleesschauwer
authors.affiliation: Nepal Health Research Council, Kathmandu, Nepal.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ale
authors.affiliation: Department of Comparative Physiology and Biometrics, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Merelbeke, Belgium.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Duchateau
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dorny
authors.affiliation: Food Safety Programme, Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR) Ltd., Christchurch, New Zealand.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lake
authors.affiliation: Nepal Health Research Council, Kathmandu, Nepal.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dhakal
authors.affiliation: Clinical Research Unit, Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital, Kathmandu, Nepal.
authors.forename: S B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Pun
authors.affiliation: Everest International Clinic and Research Center, Kathmandu, Nepal.
authors.forename: B D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Pandey
authors.affiliation: Institute of Health and Society (IRSS), Faculty of Public Health, Universite catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Speybroeck
mesh_terms: D017281:Cost of Illness; D006233:Persons with Disabilities; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D009390:Nepal; D012106:Research