Disability Adjusted Life Year (DALY)

A Disability Adjusted Life Year (DALY) is a measure used to estimate the overall burden of disease on a population. It combines years of life lost due to premature death and years lived with illness or disability. Essentially, one DALY represents one year of healthy life lost because of health problems. This helps compare the impact of different diseases or health conditions, guiding public health decisions by highlighting which issues cause the most loss of healthy life overall.