WHO Launches Global Health Inequality, Population Health Data Repository

The World Health Organization (WHO) launched its Health Inequality Data Repository (HIDR) last week, the largest global collection of data on population health and inequalities to date, to help track health disparities across populations and improve outcomes. 

The repository includes just under 11 million datapoints from 59 datasets and 15 data sources, according to the press release.  

These data include metrics for over 2,000 population health indicators, which are then broken down using 22 dimensions of inequality, such as geographic, demographic, and socioeconomic determinants of health. 

The HIDR contains data regarding COVID-19; tuberculosis; malaria; HIV; reproductive, maternal, and child health; immunization; nutrition; healthcare; non-communicable diseases; environmental health; and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

Using these data, the WHO aims to identify and address important health inequality patterns. 

“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 Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, MSc, PhD, WHO Director-General, in the press release. “If we are truly committed to leaving no one behind, we must figure out who is being missed.” 

However, the HIDR’s data is limited. The repository is made up of publicly available disaggregated data, and it is designed to support health equity by tracking health inequalities among populations over time. To do so, the HIDR breaks down data according to group characteristics, such as ethnicity or education level. 

Currently, disaggregated data are still not available for many health indicators within the repository, and in cases where data are available, most are only broken down by sex, age, and place of residence, limiting the insights researchers can draw around certain inequality patterns. 

Despite this, HIDR’s data have already revealed some disparities. 

The data indicate significant inequalities in national COVID-19 responses. In 2021, COVID-19 vaccination coverage among the most educated populations was at least 15 percentage points higher than among the least educated populations in more than a third of the 90 countries with data in HIDR. 

The press release states that by releasing the repository, the WHO is urging countries to adopt routine health inequality monitoring, make disaggregated population health and health inequality data publicly available, expand data collection, and increase capacity for analysis and reporting. 

These analyses should be conducted at the global, national, and subnational levels, the press release notes, with health inequality monitoring incorporated into global and national indicators and targets. As part of these efforts, WHO will collaborate with countries and other stakeholders to expand the HIDR each year.