Speech – Health information, WHO Autumn School on “Health Information and Evidence for Policy-making”

7 October 2013, Izmir, Turkey

Health information is key to one of WHO’s core functions: that is, to monitor and assess the health of the population in its Member States.

Health information is also an essential resource for assessing the health situation and trends in countries, which in turn is a prime input to the development of national health policies and strategies and their subsequent monitoring and evaluation.

At the beginning of my mandate, recognizing the needs in the European Region, I gave great importance to strengthening the capacity for collecting and analysing health information and transforming it into policy at the WHO Regional Office for Europe and in the Member States in the European Region.

The Health 2020 policy framework was developed with a strong information and evidence base that allowed for identification of key areas and targets. Health 2020 addresses issues in six main areas: reducing the burden of disease and risk factors, increasing life expectancy, reducing health inequities in Europe, enhancing well-being of the European population, achieving universal coverage and the right to health, and setting of national targets by Member States.

Determining how Member States progress towards Health 2020 policy targets requires a strong information and evidence base, including the definition of appropriate indicators for health and well-being, and the identification of sources of data and an analytical framework allowing for regional monitoring of progress. To this end, WHO convened expert groups that suggested lists of appropriate indicators, and we put these lists forward for consultation with Member States. We are pleased to indicate that, just two weeks ago, they were approved by the sixty-third session of the WHO Regional Committee (RC63), held in Çeşme Izmir, Turkey, setting a strategic momentum for health information and monitoring.

The review of social determinants and the health divide in the WHO European Region, also presented at to RC63, was prepared under the leadership of Sir Michael Marmot and commissioned to support the development of the new European policy framework, Health 2020. This review provides evidence on the magnitude and distribution of inequalities in health across the 53 Member States in the Region, including their social determinants. The review addresses key principles that support the recommendations and their rationale. Among them, we highlight the need for robust delivery and monitoring systems. Quality health information systems and appropriately defined indicators are crucial to building systems for monitoring progress on reducing health inequities.

Within the context of the WHO–Dutch partnership programme, last year we signed a Letter of Intent with the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) of the Netherlands, to develop a health information initiative that aims to bring together different ways of strengthening health information. This includes increasing the integration of WHO’s health databases and other sources of information, supporting the work to develop indicators for monitoring the Health 2020 policy targets, developing a European health information strategy, as well as capacity building efforts like this Autumn School on “Health Information and Evidence for Policy-making”.

To close the gap between evidence (including health information) and policy-making, WHO/Europe launched the European arm of the WHO Evidence-Informed Policy Network: (EVIPNet Europe) in October 2012. It builds on the two core Health 2020 approaches – “whole-of society” and “whole-of-government” – and fosters innovative, multisectoral partnerships between policy-makers, researchers and other stakeholders to strengthen the research–policy nexus. Facilitating the implementation of Health 2020, EVIPNet Europe will be one of the key policy and decision support tools included in the Health 2020 training package.

All 13 countries that joined EVIPNet Europe will meet this week in Izmir for the first time:

1. to strengthen their skills in systematically incorporating the best available evidence into policy development; and
2. to formulate evidence-informed policy action plans in light of Health 2020.

We envision that EVIPNet will ultimately contribute to a Europe in which high-quality, context-specific evidence and health information routinely informs health decision-making processes, to improve health for all and reduce the health divide throughout the WHO European Region.

We are in Turkey today not by chance, but for a number of special reasons. Firstly, we wanted to recognize and show that health information can make a difference when it is used at the forefront of policies and strategies. Over the past decade, the Ministry of Health of Turkey developed its Health Transformation Programme, through which remarkable progress has been achieved in the advancement and performance of the health system, targeting health inequities in health service delivery to impact maternal and child health and, ultimately, the overall health of the population. Secondly, the Ministry of Health has expressed an interest in supporting the health information initiative jointly developed by WHO and RIVM, of which capacity-building exercises are an important part. Finally, we are here today because the Minister generously agreed to support the development of the Autumn School in this wonderful city of Izmir, where many years ago some important bases for health and well-being were laid.

The Autumn School aims to review the main elements and stages of the health information cycle, from collection to reporting, and to identify common issues confronted by countries and the means to address them. This includes the challenge of translating health information and evidence into policy- and decision-making.

The European Region is regarded as generally having good or fair health information: most countries have established information systems with civil registration and vital statistics, administrative and health-services registers and other sources of information. However, there are still gaps and opportunities for improvement, particularly when it comes to the quality of health information. Similarly, there is a wealth of health data, but its analysis, use and transformation into evidence are not commensurate with the effort of collecting and managing it. This issue is partly the result of limited knowledge and tools to increase outputs.

WHO brings together participants from 15 European Member States that deal with different aspects of health information, from data collection to informing policy-makers. We expect that, after this School, they will be able to contribute to improving health information and evidence to address health and well-being in their countries.

It is a common saying, that “What is not measured is not counted and what is not counted is not addressed by policy-makers, or funded”, and this is why we are here today – to contribute to making the health of populations more visible and then to identify the means to improve it.