Skip Navigation LinksHome > 7 Measure Health Status > Challenges > 13 Population Health > Population Health Metrics Research Consortium Project
PRIMARY INVESTIGATOR:
Dr. Christopher Murray, University of Washington, Washington, United States - US
Population Health Metrics Research Consortium Project
Research ObjectivesProject Progress & Milestones
Collaborators
Project

To plan for care, implement programs, and allocate resources effectively, health care managers and policymakers need accurate data on the health status of their countries' populations. In the developing world, however, major gaps in methods and technologies to measure health status make it difficult to address inequities in health through policy.
 
Dr. Murray is leading an international team of investigators that is working to develop new technologies and methods for assessing health status in the developing world. Combining epidemiology, biomedical research, and population health assessment, the team hopes to produce new measurement tools that are science-based, standardized, and applicable to different resource-poor settings.
 
The project team has progressed from planning for field studies to final preparations for data collection in four sites: two in India, one in the Philippines and one in Tanzania.

Research Objectives:
Develop methods to measure mortality where vital registration systems are incomplete
Develop methods to measure cause-specific mortality in populations with incomplete or inadequate cause-of-death survey coding
Develop methods to measure the prevalence and incidence of major infectious diseases using interviews and serum collected in household surveys
Develop methods to measure the effective delivery of antiretrovirals (ARVs) and childhood immunization to individuals who will benefit from them
BACK TO THE TOP
Project Progress & Milestones:
Investigators have trained staff and begun data collection in Tanzania. Data collection will begin in the Philippines and India as soon as human subjects applications are approved.
Researchers have developed a technique to estimate cause-specific mortality fractions (CSMFs), and have tested their approach using data from China. They plan to test their model with new Grand Challenges data, and have begun VA data collection in Tanzania.
Scientists have visited three field sites and have trained staff and set up labs for sample collection. In Tanzania and the Philippines, investigators have conducted trial runs to test equipment and protocols.
Scientists are developing a strategy to yield rich patterns once appropriate plasma fractions are introduced into mass spectrometry, and are developing software to process the data.
Investigators have begun preliminary work on disease-specific applications on models for their third objective, measuring the prevalence and incidence of major infectious diseases using interviews and serum collected in household surveys. These models will emphasize conditions that are among the major focus diseases for the overall project, including HIV/AIDS, lower respiratory infections, and diarrheal diseases.
BACK TO THE TOP
Collaborators:
Muhimbili University, Tanzania, United Republic of - TZ
Broad Institute, Massachusetts, United States - US
University of Washington, Washington, United States - US
Johns Hopkins University, Maryland, United States - US
University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia - AU
BACK TO THE TOP

 Project at a Glance

GOAL:
CHALLENGE:
TECHNOLOGY CATEGORY:
DISEASE MODEL:

 Research Map