Global issues in health care have recently become a major challenge facing the health sector. Global issuesincludeincreased mortality and morbidity due to the rising disease burden of infectious diseases, such as HIV/AIDSand poverty, among others. Assessment of disease burden by the use of the various summary measures used in health data management is important in monitoring the trend of the health status of the people.

The essential elements used in the assessment of the diseaseburden are the ‘disease outcome’ and the ‘risk factors’. Obtaining data on the risk factors in a low-income country is most challenging because of the difficulty in the assessment and evaluation of the risk factors. The summary measures used to measure the burden of disease include HeaLY (Healthy Life Years), DALYs (Disability Adjusted Life Years), and the records of the traditional indicators such as mortality records(Jamison, Brenan, &Measham, 2006).Healy and DALYs summary measures are better than the traditional methods because they are easy to explain their concept of measurement, and their units of expected years of life are more meaningful (Hyder, Rotllanat, & Morrow, 1998).

As the minister for health in a Sub-Saharan African Country, I would organizea national health education and prevention campaigns against HIV/AIDS. I would also ensure adequate numbers of condoms are distributed to the persons of reproductive age group to promote safe sex. As the community leader, I would carry out the national strategies set by the ministry of health and organize open forums with the community to discuss cultural beliefs and traditions that promote spread of HIV/AIDs. The cultural beliefs and traditions that increase the risk of HIV/AIDS transmission includefemale genital mutilation, unsafe male circumcision practices and religious beliefs that condemn the use of condoms. I would promote education that shows the likely negative effects of following the said cultural beliefs. The education would target all the stakeholders in the health sector in order to be successful.

References

Hyder, A., Rotllanat, G.,& Morrow, R. H. (1998). Measuring the Burden of Disease: Healthy Life-Years. American Journal of Public Health, 88(2):196-202.

Jamison, D.T., Brenan, J. G., &Measham, A. R. (2006). Disease ControlPriorities in Developing Countries. New York: Oxford University Press.