SCORE for health data technical package: global report on health data systems and capacity, 2020
Overview
Data and information that help governments prioritize health challenges and allocate necessary resources rely on strong country health information systems. These systems identify health care availability as well as access and quality of care issues that prevent the attainment of universal health coverage (UHC). The same country health information systems also provide important data for global monitoring for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and other donor reporting.
To meet the increasingly complex demands on countries for health information, the new SCORE for Health Data Technical Package brings together, for the first time, a set of the most effective interventions and tools for addressing critical data gaps and strengthening country health data for planning and monitoring health priorities.
The package is based on five key interventions, represented by the acronym SCORE. Interventions S, C and O focus on improving critical data sources, their availability and quality; while R and E aim to enhance the synthesis, analysis, access and use of health data for action. Key components of the SCORE package were launched in August 2020 – SCORE Essential interventions for strengthening country health information systems and SCORE Tools and standards. Together, these documents provide an overview of health information systems, the context and indicators of each intervention, examples of actions needed to strengthen different aspects of the system and a summary of the best tools and standards to do so. An additional key component of the SCORE package is the Assessment instrument which was developed to evaluate a country’s health information system according to the five SCORE interventions. One hundred and thirty-three country health information systems were assessed, covering 87% of the global population, with the data collected between 2013 and 2018.
This report is particularly timely and highlights how important it is to strengthen a country’s health information system to meet data needs. Among several key findings, the income divide between high and low-income countries is reflected in the lack of health information system capacity to address fundamental areas such as the registration of births, deaths and causes of death. While some countries have achieved sustainable capacity in some key areas, no country has a fully mature system capable of meeting their evolving needs for health information.
The report provides recommendations for countries to prioritize investments in health information system and is published during one of the most data-strained public health crisis responses ever - that of the COVID-19 pandemic. As countries’ health information systems have had to track COVID-19, they have also had to continue tracking other health priorities. This challenge underlines the demand to improve countries’ health information system to meet current and future data needs. While the global report’s assessment predates the COVID-19 pandemic, the results remain relevant, highlighting the key gaps and challenges countries face around the world.
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