The Korean GBD research team pays attention to the accessibility of available data related to population health. We suggest that using health insurance claim data from social health insurance, might be useful indicators with comprehensive data. In addition, quantification of the epidemiological shift is important and provides a starting point from which to address the urgent issues of accessibility and inclusion for those with diseases in the immediate future.

In this supplement, the research team provided several results with 13 articles. First, the methodological perspective regarding how the burden of disease was calculated was reported. Second, they reported the burden of diseases using Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) with several disease categories — Non-communicable disease, Communicable disease, Injuries, Mental disorder, Maternal-neonatal disorder, Nutritional disorder. Furthermore, they suggested the application method for a modified garbage code.

As a Guest Editor of this supplement issue, I deeply appreciate the support of Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Korean Medical Science (JKMS), the Ministry of Health and Welfare and Korea Health Industry Development Institute that has contributed to the success of this publication. Additionally, I wish to express my gratitude to the authors and reviewers who spent their valuable time providing support to research related to the measuring burden of diseases. I hope this publication will be helpful in stimulating and accelerating the movement to promote the development of the population health index using DALYs regularly for assessing the health status of the general population.