Research Tools: World Health Organization (WHO) Announces Release of Data.who.int

From the WHO:

Data.who.int provides open access to WHO’s health data through a harmonized, consolidated and seamless experience. Starting with the data underlying WHO’s annual World Health Statistics report, the new website reimagines the indicator page – the most representative level of data presentation – with consistent, expressive and accessible visualization, while also presenting metadata to promote ease of accessibility, reference and use. The data powering WHO’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) monitoring is now fully accessible to the public in a harmonized, seamless experience. Furthermore, the data.who.int country pages highlight life expectancy, leading causes of death, and civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) figures by country, making it easy to quickly access and compare country-level data.

Data.who.int aims to be the most accessible public health data platform in the world. For the first time, all data will be digitally available in the six official languages of the United Nations, while also respecting local formatting, charting, and colour conventions. Charts and their contents are more widely accessible through an appropriately chosen design vocabulary and inclusive approaches to chart design, as well as increasing support for assistive devices and alternative modes of access. Controlled colour schemes ensure that chart colours are colourblind-safe and with sufficient contrast for multiple consumption contexts. As a key process in the iterative development, release and improvement of the website, data.who.int is undergoing regular testing with users representing the visually, motor and cognitive impaired communities to consistently improve accessibility.

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The newly released website is underpinned by the World Health Data Hub product stack, a suite of robust and scalable end-to-end technology solutions built in collaboration with Microsoft and Avanade. These technologies are guided by WHO’s data principles to serve an ambitious range of needs

• Safe and unlimited data storage: Central location with secure storage for all types of data files, enabling collaboration, data science and advanced analytics.
• Member State engagement portal: Two-way country portal facilitating data exchange and communication between Member States and the three levels of WHO.
• Collaborative research environment: Secure, shared data workspaces for WHO and partners to collaborate on data models and machine learning, using the latest data science technologies.
• Public data catalogue: The forthcoming data catalogue will organize all of WHO’s shareable health data and related assets in one place, making them searchable, browsable, and accessible, with an open architecture to facilitate broader use.
• Modern data pages and charts: Harmonizing and consolidating WHO’s complete health data assets and data sets in a central location, ensuring health data is accessible, timely, understandable and usable.
• Equitable access and internationalization: Platform features ensure that the World Health Data Hub is usable across languages, cultures and geographic settings.

Learn More, Read the Complete Announcement

Direct to Data.who.int

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