80772
                    Global Burden of Disease: Generating Evidence, Guiding Policy
                  Main Findings from the Latin America and Caribbean Regional Edition


Substantial progress has been made in postponing death
between 1970 and 2010
Across the region, each country increased its average age of
death. Great variation exists, however, with El Salvador
demonstrating the greatest gain (about 40 years) and
Uruguay showing the least improvement (about nine years).

Declines in mortality rates largely varied by age, with
greatest improvements for young children
Death rates for children between 1 and 4 years old declined
by more than 85% between 1970 and 2010. Women 80 and
older saw the least improvement (a decrease of 11%), while
men between 15 and 19 saw a 1% rise in mortality rate.

Premature death and disability caused by
most communicable diseases and newborn
conditions have greatly declined
Between 1990 and 2010, the region has
succeeded in decreasing premature death
and disability, also known as healthy years
lost, from lower respiratory infections,
diarrheal diseases, and preterm birth
complications; however, these conditions
are still among the top causes of disease
burden for Bolivia, Haiti, and Guatemala.

HIV/AIDS is rapidly rising for some
countries in the region
HIV/AIDS caused 94% more healthy years
lost in 2010 than in 1990; however, several
countries, such as Ecuador and Colombia,
have seen increases exceeding 1,000%. In
Belize, HIV/AIDS is now the leading cause
of premature death and disability, up from
28th.

Non-communicable diseases are now the
leading causes of premature death and
disability in Latin America and Caribbean
From 1990 to 2010, healthy years lost from
causes like ischemic heart disease,
diabetes, and chronic kidney disease
increased between 36% and 140% in the
region. Mexico experienced a 284%
increase in chronic kidney disease.

Interpersonal violence has taken a
growing toll on health in many countries
Interpersonal violence is now the third-
leading cause of premature mortality and disability in the region, increasing 35% between 1990 and 2010. Several countries,
including Belize, Jamaica, and Venezuela, experienced a sharper escalation of 200% or more during this time.
Disease burden driven by risk factors
for communicable diseases has
substantially declined
Much progress has been made for
potentially avoidable risk factors like
household air pollution, suboptimal
breastfeeding, and iron deficiency,
such that their burdens declined
between about 20% and 80% from
1990 to 2010. Nonetheless, these risk
factors remain among the top five
contributors of disease burden in
Bolivia and Nicaragua.

Potentially preventable behavioral
risk factors are rapidly contributing
to greater disease burden over time
Risk factors associated with lifestyles,
such as high body mass index and
high fasting plasma glucose,
contributed to far more healthy years
lost in 2010 than in 1990. The
Dominican Republic saw a 225% rise
in disease burden from high body
mass index.

GBD results allow countries to
explore areas of success and identify
areas of improvement relative to
other countries within the region
Benchmarking exercises (like the one
to the right) can show rates of
premature mortality ranked relative
to the region’s average and highlight
the best (green) and worst (red)
performers across the conditions that
cause the most premature mortality
in the region.

Across all countries and diseases,
Chile, Cuba, and Uruguay performed
the best. Guyana and Haiti had the
most conditions for which they
performed significantly worse.

For communicable diseases,
countries such as Bolivia and
Guatemala consistently performed
worse than the rest of the region.
However, more variation took place
for non-communicable diseases and injuries. Countries like Brazil and Venezuela had significantly higher rates of premature
mortality from road injury, while several countries, such as Honduras, experienced significantly greater rates of premature
mortality from ischemic heart disease than the rest of the region.