Would addressing high-priority risk factors from the Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD) 2010 potentially reduce health inequalities? A case study

Abstract

BackgroundMost countries have a dual goal of improving overall population health and reducing health inequalities. Using New Zealand (NZ) as a case study, the relevance of prioritised Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2010 risk factors were considered in terms of ethnic inequalities between Māori (indigenous) and non-Māori people.MethodsThe top ten risk factors from the GBD 2010 data for Australasia (Australia and NZ) were examined. They were compared with a previous NZ analysis from the Ministry of Health (2004)—with seven of the previous top ten risk factors overlapping. Literature on risk factor distributions for NZ was searched, particularly national survey data.FindingsOut of the top ten r..