RESUMO
Burden of disease has been used to assess population health status. This article presents the first estimations of burden of disease in Vietnam in 2008 using disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). DALYs were calculated using the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) methods. Incidence, prevalence of diseases, and causes of death was extracted from Vietnam data. Disability weights were borrowed from GBD and Dutch research. In 2008, the total burden of disease in Vietnam was 12.3 million DALYs. Noncommunicable diseases dominated the total burden of diseases in Vietnam, accounting for 71% of the total burden, and cardiovascular disease was the leading cause group of premature death. While pneumonia was an important cause of burden in Vietnamese children, stroke and depression were the main causes of disease burden among adults. The study provides a snapshot of Vietnamese health status and offers guidance for health policymaking in Vietnam.