Today, WHO launches the Health Inequality Data Repository, the world’s most comprehensive collection of publicly available disaggregated data and evidence on population health and its determinants. The repository makes it possible to track health inequalities between population groups and over time, by breaking down the data according to group characteristics, from educational level to ethnic origin.
Data from the repository show that, in just a decade, the gap between rich and poor in health care coverage among women, newborns, and children in low- and middle-income countries has nearly halved. They also reveal that, in these countries, eliminating wealth-related inequality in under-five mortality could help save the lives of 1.8 million children.
The Health Inequality Data Repository (HIDR) includes nearly 11 million data points and consists of 59 data sets from more than 15 sources. The data includes measurements of more than 2,000 indicators broken down by 22 dimensions of inequality, including demographic, socioeconomic, and geographic factors. Topics covered include: the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); COVID-19; reproductive, maternal and child health; immunization; HIV; tuberculosis; malaria; nutrition; health care; noncommunicable diseases and environmental health.
“The ability to target services to those who need them most is vital to promoting health equity and improving lives. Designed as a one-stop-shop for data on health inequality, the Repository will help us go beyond just counting births and deaths, to disaggregating health data by sex, age, education, region and more,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director General. “If we are truly committed to leaving no one behind, we need to find out who is being missed.”
However, disaggregated data is not yet available for many health indicators, and when it is available, it is most often disaggregated by sex only, and to a lesser extent by age and place of residence. For example, only 170 of the 320 indicators on the WHO health-related statistics portal, the Global Health Observatoryare disaggregated, of which 116, or two-thirds, are disaggregated by sex only.
Although limited, the available disaggregated data reveals important patterns of inequality. In high-income countries, hypertension is more common among men than women, and obesity rates are similar between men and women. By contrast, in low-income countries, hypertension rates are similar between women and men, but obesity rates are higher among women than men.
The repository also reveals inequities in national responses to COVID-19. In 2021, in more than a third of the 90 countries with data, COVID-19 vaccination coverage among the most educated was at least 15 percentage points higher than among the least educated.
By publishing the HIDR, WHO is calling on countries to adopt routine monitoring of health inequalities, make disaggregated data publicly available, expand data collection, and increase analytical and reporting capacity. Inequality analyzes should be carried out regularly at global, national and subnational levels, with health inequality monitoring integrated into global and national goals, indicators and targets, and health performance assessments. WHO is committed to working with countries and partners to update and expand this resource annually.
Notes to editors
In addition to WHO, the main data sources include: UNICEF data warehouse; DHS Program; UNAIDS; United Nations Development Program (UNDP); United Nations Statistics SDG Indicators Database; Eurostat; World Bank; Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD); global data lab; Global Survey of Trends and Impact of COVID-19; and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME).
All the data sets of the HYDR can be explored using the Health Equity Assessment Toolkit (HEAT) software and downloaded through the Health Inequality Monitor websiteas well as through an application programming interface (API).
HIDR will be launched during a webinar on April 20, 2023, from 1:00 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. CET.
TO review of WHO’s resources and contributions to strengthen and expand monitoring of health inequalities to advance health equity can also be found in the International Journal for Health Equity.
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