This book emerges from two separate, but intersecting, strands of work that began in the late 1980s, when the World Bank ini- tiated a review of priorities for the control of specific diseases. The review generated findings about the comparative cost- effectiveness of interventions for most diseases important in developing countries. The purpose of the cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) was to inform decision making within the health sectors of highly resource-constrained countries. This process resulted in the publication of the first edition of Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries (Jamison and others 1993). Also important for informing policy is a consistent, quantitative assessment of the relative magnitudes of diseases, injuries, and their risk.
