A new essay in PLoS Medicine outlines the critical need for more investment in the collection, management, and use of health data. The co-authors of this piece represent eight major global health agencies, including the WHO, the Global Fund, GAVI, UNFPA, the Human Development Network at the World Bank, UNAIDS, UNICEF, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The authors highlight four major actions needed to improve the quality of key data sources (i.e., household surveys, birth and death registration, census, health facility reporting systems, administrative systems) and to increase country-level capacity to analyze and use health data:
- Increase levels and efficiency of investments in health information
- Develop a common data architecture
- Strengthen performance monitoring and evaluation
- Increase data access and use
More importantly, the authors, on behalf of their agencies, identify commitments to achieving each goal. The language is vague and the mechanisms for action (and evaluation) are not specified, but the tone of the brief essay is encouraging.
I am most interested in the fourth goal, increasing data access and use. As part of my new role at the Population Council, I am collaborating on the second phase of an important initiative to improve data access and use in Sub-Saharan Africa that is funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Background on Phase 1 of the Demographic Data for Development (3D) project can be found here and here. A new project page for Phase 2 should appear in the near future.
A key finding from Phase 1 — a series of case studies in Uganda, Ghana, Ethiopia, and Senegal — was that intermediaries such as journalists and members of the media play an important role in increasing the demand for data. One limitation, however, is that these critical consumers of demographic data often lack the knowledge of how to obtain and interpret demographic data. The 3D2 project, as we are calling it, seeks to link producers and consumers of national and sub-national demographic and public health data to increase data access and use.
The authors of the PLoS Medicine essay convey the importance of this overall goal:
Better access to data and statistics in the public domain could generate important benefits at country and global levels by fostering collaboration and innovation in statistical and analytic methods, both for new data collection and for better use of existing data.
