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Disability adjusted life years
DALYs
A disability adjusted life year, or DALY, is one year of healthy life lost to illness, disability or early death.
Summary
- It adds the years of life lost to early death to the years lived with illness or disability.
- The World Health Organization uses DALYs to compare the burden of different diseases across countries.
- A QALY measures health gained from a treatment. A DALY measures health lost to a disease.
Interview questions
- What is the difference between a QALY and a DALY?
- Why might a health minister look at DALYs as well as death rates?
- Should a country spend its health budget on the diseases that cause the most DALYs?
Practise answering these with a mentor
Our interview preparation has you answer questions like these out loud, with feedback on each answer.
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