Applying your knowledge of global health actors and reliable global epidemiological information sources, provide data on an infectious disease – e.g., HIV, TB, malaria, diarrheal disease (do not select a disease that is not communicable) – for a reference country and for one additional country from a WHO region other than the one in which your reference country is located.
Do not choose a country in which the infectious disease rate is 0%. For example, malaria is a tropical disease that is not endemic to northern hemispheric regions. So using Iceland as a reference country for malaria would not be informative.
You will next need to create a table using data to present the following pieces of information:
COUNTRY-LEVEL DATA
YOUR REFERENCE COUNTRY
ONE ADDITIONAL COUNTRY
(different WHO region)
Overall DALYs per 100,000
DALYs per 100,000 (males)
DALYs per 100,000 (females)
Age quintile with highest DALY
Overall Incidence (new cases per 100,000)
Incidence (new cases per 100,000) (males)
Incidence (new cases per 100,000) (females)
Age quintile with highest incidence
Overall mortality rate (deaths per 100,000)
Mortality rate (deaths per 100,000) (males)
Mortality rate (deaths per 100,000) (females)
Age quintile with highest mortality/death rate
Use the following directions to locate the indicated pieces of information and fill in the table:
Go to IHMEs GBD Compare ToolLinks to an external site.
Go to plot view (second from bottom at far left).
Go to advanced settings.
In the “Cause” drop-down menu, select your infectious disease focus and indicate it by modifying the top row of your table.
Select the “Measure,” starting with “DALYs” (then change to “Incidence” and “Deaths”).
Select your reference country. (After completing everything for the reference country column, repeat all these procedures with your comparison country.)
In “Ages”, keep “all ages” (default setting).
In “Sex”, keep “both” (default setting).
In “Units”, select “rate”.
Turn “Uncertainty” to “off”.
Keep “Value” as “observed” (default).
At the bottom of the plot table, select “Sex” (third view from left) to begin.
Hover over the data point on the table to the far right (“Both” on X-axis). That will indicate the “Overall” number.
Hover over the data point on the table to the far left (“Male” on X-axis). That will indicate the “male” number.
Hover over the middle data point on the table (“Female” on X-axis). That will indicate the “female” number.
To answer the age quintile questions, go back to the bottom of the plot table and change the view to “Age.”
Locate the highest point in the Y-axis. When you hover over it, you will see the corresponding X coordinate as an age range.
Next, write an essay that discusses why these two countries have similar (or different) disease burdens. Your analysis should consider such factors as cultural, economic, behavioral, environmental, and biological attributes of each country, the distribution of resources within each population, and the ability of each country’s health system to prevent, diagnose, and treat the disease. You should incorporate the table into the body of your paper.
As this assignment asks you to explore health and demographic data about select countries. Here are some great resources to help you find the data you need for the analytical portion of the paper:
1. Links to an external site.UW’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME)Links to an external site.
You should use the IHMEs GBD Compare Tool as described above to fill in the data for the table. It is a great resource for visualizing data, seeing trends, and comparing regions and countries. This tool allows you to easily and quickly create visual representations of your chosen country and the disease or condition of your choice.
2. WHOLinks to an external site.
The WHOs Global Health Observatory (https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/countriesLinks to an external site.) also has many health statistics. After clicking on your country, explore the “country data and statistics” and “country pro les”.
3. World BankLinks to an external site.
The World Bank (https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/Links to an external site.) has many development indicators. You can explore by searching the indicators and then adding your country or clicking on the “By Country” tab at the top of the page.
4. Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS)Links to an external site.
DHS is a USAID-funded project that carries out surveys in low-income countries receiving US foreign aid. Each DHS has extensive data about specific countries and can be found here: https://dhsprogram.com/Where-We-Work/Country-List.cfmLinks to an external site..
5. Links to an external site.UNDPLinks to an external site.
The United Nations Development Program (https://hdr.undp.org/data-center/country-insights#/ranksLinks to an external site.) also collects many development indicators and has some excellent maps available too.
Other quality data sources are acceptable, as long as they are properly cited.
In addition to the guidelines laid out in the Rubric for the Comparative Country Assessment, you should also consider the following:
– Are your “Reference Country” and “One Additional Country” explicitly and accurately identified and labeled in the table?
– Is your data table completely filled in?
– Do your “Data” (numbers) corresponded to the countries indicated?
– Have you used reliable, quality information (qualitative, peer-reviewed journal articles)?
– Have you used your sources effectively in synthesizing the quantitative information/data in your table?
– Does your analysis include discussion of the role played by biological, social, environmental, cultural, and economic factors in shaping human health and disease in your countries?
The paper body should be a minimum of 15 double-spaced pages, excluding your table and bibliography. Use 12pt Times New Roman font or comparable, and set your margins at 1 inch. The table itself should be placed at the end of your paper, just before the bibliography. The paper should include a strong introductory paragraph with a clear thesis, a body that uses original arguments and analysis, and uses primary source material to support claims. The paper should close with a substantive conclusion and have a complete and properly formatted bibliography of all of the sources you have cited in your research. In addition to any data tool sites such as those above, you are expected to draw on a minimum of 5 peer-reviewed, scholarly sources to support your analysis. News articles and other non-scholarly sources may be used in addition to your scholarly sources; these must also be cited and included in your bibliography. Do not use encyclopedias (Wikipedia is a big no-no) or other general-reference texts such as dictionaries in your research, as these are not considered college-level research sources.
