SEATTLE – A wealth of maternal and child health data is being made immediately and freely accessible through a new collaboration between the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Division of Reproductive Health.
The Division chose IHME's Global Health Data Exchange (GHDx) to host its reports and datasets for an extensive series of reproductive health survey data from more than 30 countries that have received technical assistance from the Division from 1975 to the present. The datasets cover a wide range of topics, including pregnancies, births, contraceptive use, prenatal care, nutrition, delivery assistance, immunizations, behavioral risk factors, and domestic violence.
The announcement was made today at the Global Health Metrics & Evaluation (GHME) conference in Seattle.
"Prior to this partnership, the reports and datasets from our Reproductive Health Surveys have primarily been available upon request," said Dr. Paul Stupp, the demographer who coordinates technical assistance for the Division. "We had been actively trying to find a place to make these datasets available and had explored several options when IHME created its new data catalog. The GHDx seemed like the best fit because it is global in reach, focused on health, and simple to use."
The GHDx is a user-friendly, searchable data catalog of global health, public health, and demographic datasets. The GHDx provides free access to high-quality metadata and contains essential information about datasets, including data sources and providers, as well as all the information needed to properly cite the data. IHME is sharing all of its research results through the GHDx and invites governments and other organizations to make their health-related data publicly available at high transfer speeds with no fees.
Researchers around the world will be able to download the CDC's reproductive health data to measure the health status of populations, to track progress in health interventions, and to design policies that will have a strong impact on improving population health.
"The purpose of the GHDx is to give people one place where they can locate a broad range of data that are available in global health, ideally with those data available for download," said Peter Speyer, Director of Data Development at IHME. "The CDC collaboration is a great foundation for us to start making more data directly available on the GHDx, and ultimately building a community for data producers and data users."
The surveys were made possible by major funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). CDC technical assistance was provided under an interagency agreement between CDC and USAID.
The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) is an independent global research center at the University of Washington providing sound measurement of population health and the factors that determine health, as well as rigorous evaluation of health system and health program performance. The Institute's goal is to improve population health by providing the best evidence possible to guide health policy – and by making that evidence easily accessible to decision-makers as they strategically fund, design, and implement programs to improve health outcomes worldwide. IHME was created in 2007 through funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the state of Washington.