Health Equity Monitor Database

Monitoring health inequalities is essential for achieving health equity. Health inequality monitoring uses health data disaggregated by relevant inequality dimensions (i.e. demographic, socioeconomic or geographical factors) in order to identify differences in health between different population subgroups. Disaggregated data provide evidence on who is being left behind and informs equity-oriented policies, programmes and practices.

The Health Equity Monitor database currently includes data for more than 35 reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health (RMNCH) indicators, disaggregated by six dimensions of inequality (economic status, education, place of residence (rural vs. urban) and subnational region, as well as age and sex, where applicable). Data are based on more than 360 Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) and Reproductive Health Surveys (RHS) conducted in 115 countries in 1991-2019.

Health Equity Monitor data were derived from re-analysis of DHS, MICS and RHS micro-data. The analysis was done by the WHO Collaborating Center for Health Equity Monitoring (International Center for Equity in Health, Federal University of Pelotas, Brazil).

NOTES

In general, standard indicator definitions were adopted, as published in DHS, MICS and RHS documentation. In a few cases there may be minor differences between the data reported here and in previous DHS, MICS or RHS country reports due to small discrepancies in the definition and calculation of some indicators. Detailed information about the criteria used to calculate the indicator numerator and denominator values used in these analyses are available in the indicator compendium and the WHO Indicator and Measurement Registry. The survey tools used by DHS, MICS and RHS permit direct comparisons among surveys, and it is assumed that the survey design and implementation quality are sufficiently similar among DHS, MICS and RHS, across countries and over time. Surveys were generally conducted over a one or two year period, thus the survey year recorded may indicate either the first year of data collection, or the sole year of data collection. Point estimates along with 95% confidence intervals are shown.

More information and resources about the topic of health equity can be found on the Health Equity Monitor theme page, including publications, interactive data visualizations and the Health Equity Assessment Toolkit (HEAT and HEAT PLUS):
http://www.who.int/gho/health_equity/en/index.html