Data important for global health policymaking

Mar 26 2013

"Just like central bankers and ministers who need an accurate GDP figure for policymaking, health ministers need to know why their population is losing healthy life years," Denizhan Duran, a research assistant at the Center for Global Development (CGD), writes in the group's blog. The data in the Global Burden of Diseases study (GBD) "can help health ministries allocate their health budgets more efficiently and fairly, particularly as they move towards universal health coverage," and the data are "also critical for global health donors who need to determine how best to allocate their funds across countries and diseases," he continues. "Fortunately, more and more people are realizing the power of measurement and good data as tools to save lives," he states, and concludes, "I hope this high-level support will complement our efforts to encourage policymakers to pay attention to data and base their allocation decisions accordingly" (3/22).