WHO is launching the Health Inequality Data Repository – one of the most comprehensive global collections of publicly available disaggregated data and evidence on population health and its determinants. The repository allows for tracking health inequalities across population groups and overtime, by breaking down data according to group characteristics, ranging from education level to ethnicity.
The data from the repository show that, in just a decade, the rich-poor gap in health service coverage among women, newborns and children in low- and middle-income countries has nearly halved. It also reveals 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 datasets from over 15 sources. The data include measurements of over 2000 indicators broken down by 22 dimensions of inequality, including demographic, socioeconomic and geographical factors. Topics covered include; the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); COVID-19; reproductive, maternal and child health; immunisation; HIV; tuberculosis; malaria; nutrition; health care; non-communicable diseases and environmental health.
“The ability to direct services to those who need them the most is vital to advancing health equity and improving lives. Designed as a one-stop-shop for data on health inequality, the Repository will help us move beyond only counting births and deaths, to disaggregating health data according to sex, age, education, region and more,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.