Data for Health

Strengthening Health Data

Today, approximately half of all deaths in the world go unrecorded; accordingly, health policy decisions are often based on inadequate information. Data for Health works with governments and partners to strengthen data on births, deaths, and risk factors for noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) so governments can save and improve lives through better-informed public health policies.

Data for Health partners with low- and middle-income countries to improve public health data and use of data for policymaking. The Initiative received co-funding from the Australian Government from inception through 2023 and has received support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation since 2019.

Video

Collecting Birth and Death Records is Critical – Here’s Why

Since 2015, more than 28 million birth and death records have been newly collected or improved, and more than 120,000 health professionals have been trained to better collect or analyze related information. To date, countries representing more than 4 billion people have worked with Bloomberg Philanthropies to receive technical assistance to improve their public health data – including by collecting data on deaths in rural areas for the first time ever. The investments to date have led to meaningful advancements, including:

• Colombia: The Initiative has invested in strengthening the reporting of essential statistics to make them more accessible and easier to use by policymakers. The first interactive vital statistics report created through the program allows users to explore information about births and deaths according to sub-national geographic area, year, sex and age.
• Philippines: The Initiative supported the development of the Data to Policy (D2P) – a training program in the Philippines, which aims to foster a greater connection between health data and policymaking by utilizing relevant data to develop evidence-based recommendations for decision makers. It has been adapted and institutionalized by partners in the Health Policy Development and Planning Bureau as part of their Health Evidence Translation Initiative. With 15 active D2P trainers from across the Department of Health (DOH), the program will be expanded to the regional and local levels to improve local policy decisions.
• Rwanda: Through the Initiative, Rwanda was able to more than quadruple death registration by integrating the health sector and civil registration authorities, scaling up verbal autopsy for community deaths, and institutionalizing the process for reporting mortality data both in the community and health facilities.

Data for Health partner countries are exploring new ways of monitoring risk factors for early death. The Initiative also supports cancer registries that track diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes at the country level. Data for Health has expanded its partnership to more than 40 countries and counting reaching over 5 billion people through the Global Grants Program.  We now have not only multi-year comprehensive partnerships with governments (25 countries), but are also including support for smaller scale time-bound projects (47 countries so far, with more planned).

Podcast

The Critical Role of Data in Fighting COVID-19

Governments have successfully implemented improvements to their health data systems, including national use of hospital administrators to register births and deaths (Rwanda), establishing new units within the government to analyze health data (Maharashtra, India), adopting on-going trainings to use data to inform policymaking (Zambia), and building electronic death registration systems (Peru).

Strategies 

1. Support collection of country-level death and birth data

Funding staff in government offices to:

• Assess current birth and death data systems
• Identify gaps between current systems and best practices
• Fund international experts to work with in-country staff to improve data systems, including new cancer registries that track diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes at the country level
• Support the development of a library of best-practice materials for our countries (and all countries globally)
• Provide expertise for countries to conduct reviews of their health data laws and support for improvement if needed

2. Better use data to inform policy priorities, track trends, and plan interventions

Funding staff in government offices to:

• Assess current use of data for policymaking
• Identify opportunities to use data to tackle local health challenges (e.g. smoke-free laws in Shanghai)
• Provide trainings, translation of materials, and new technology (e.g. software and website templates)

3. Better monitor major risk factors for early death

Making data collection and analysis of risk factors for early death from noncommunicable disease more efficient and effective by:

• Funding international experts to develop new mobile phone-based surveys
• Supporting technical development of surveys in local languages
• Paying for in-country staff to administer survey and analyze results