Terms to Know in Global Health

These terms are often used in the same context but actually have different meanings. The term “endemic” refers to that which is “natural to, prevalent within, and confined to a particular area.” Malaria is a good example of an endemic disease since it is found only in the tropics. An “epidemic” is synonymous with the term “outbreak” and refers to the “relatively rapid spread of a disease to large numbers of a population or to areas where it is not normally prevalent.” The flu epidemic that occurs each winter is one example. A “pandemic” refers to “the spread of disease throughout a country, continent or the world.” In February of this year, the World Health Organization declared the rapid international spread of the Zika virus and its suspected link to birth defects to be an international public health emergency — perhaps in hopes that a pandemic can be prevented. It was a move that many experts supported, including Dr. Ron Waldman, a professor of global health at George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health.

The phrase “global burden of disease” (GBD) is attributed to the World Health Organization and is an indicator that “measures burden of disease using the disability-adjusted-life-year (DALY). This time-based measure combines years of life lost due to premature mortality and years of life lost due to time lived in states of less than full health.” The WHO’s GBD project is an ongoing initiative that provides a framework within which countries can make use of GBD data to inform policies and help set their health agendas.