The Global Health Observatory (GHO) is a
public health observatory A public health observatory is an organization or program that monitors and reports on the public health of a particular region or topic in order to inform health policy. Depending on the geographical area or focus of work, it may also be called a ...
established by the
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level o ...
(WHO) to share data on global health, including statistics by country and information about specific diseases and health measures.
The GHO tracks important information like "Response to the
Millennium Development Goals
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were eight international development goals for the year 2015 that had been established following the Millennium Summit of the United Nations in 2000, following the adoption of the United Nations Millenn ...
".
History
The GHO was formed in around 2010 from the ashes of the
WHO Statistical Information System, which was "upgraded... to provide you with more data, more tools, more analysis and more reports."
In December 2012, the WHO announced that it was making improvements in its GHO to improve its accessibility and usability by "specialists such as statisticians, epidemiologists, economists and public health researchers as well as anyone with an interest in global health."
Themes
The GHO website is organized around themes. For each theme, key statistics are presented on the associated webpage, and more detailed data and reports are available for download. The themes include:
[
* ]Millennium Development Goals
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were eight international development goals for the year 2015 that had been established following the Millennium Summit of the United Nations in 2000, following the adoption of the United Nations Millenn ...
* Estimates of mortality and global health
Global health is the health of the populations in the worldwide context; it has been defined as "the area of study, research and practice that places a priority on improving health and achieving equity in health for all people worldwide". Problem ...
* Health system
Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organi ...
s
* Public health and environment
* Health Equity Monitor
* International Health Regulations Monitoring framework
* Urban health
* Women and health
* Noncommunicable diseases
* Substance use and mental health
* Infectious diseases
* Injuries and violence
Reception and impact
The GHO has been listed by many libraries and dataset listings as a go-to source for information on health statistics. The GHO has also been cited in work of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georg ...
in the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
.
GHO data has also been cited in academic studies on various aspects of global health, particularly for cross-country comparisons.
See also
* The World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...
data sets
References
External links
{{official website, www.who.int/gho/en/
World Health Organization
Scientific databases
Health informatics