Common methods and instruments for health interview surveys in Europe : report of the WHO EUROHIS mid-term review, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2-4 November 2000

Abstract

While countries collect data on health to monitor the effects of health policy, the lack of coordination in the development of survey instruments hinders international comparisons of the results. The WHO Regional Office for Europe, working with 54 organizations in 35 countries in the WHO European Region, is tackling this problem through the project on common health interview surveys in Europe (‎EUROHIS)‎. Within the current phase of the project, planned to end in December 2001, and co-sponsored by the BIOMED2 programme of the European Commission (‎EC)‎, the EUROHIS Mid-term Review was held to examine the progress made in developing common instruments for seven indicators and decide on the action to take to complete the project. The participants discussed the draft instruments and agreed on the changes required. They recommended further field-testing for these instruments, along with those of the previous phases of the project, and their implementation, preferably as a group, in countries' health surveys. Finally, they asked WHO to urge all European Member States to use the final package of instruments in their health surveys