—from Epidemiological Bulletin, Vol. 24 No. 2, June 2003—

Core Data Initiative: New Brochures

The Regional Core Health Data Initiative was started in 1995 as a joint effort of Member Countries and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) through its Representation Offices, Divisions, and Technical Programs. Since then, it has been coordinated by PAHO’s Special Program for Health Analysis (SHA), now the Area of Health Analysis and Information Systems (AIS). This effort has expanded the capacity of the Secretariat and of the Member States to collect, validate, and systematically analyze health information.

The Regional basic health indicators brochure has been published periodically for eight years and has served as a model for similar data dissemination instruments in at least 23 countries of the Region. Overall, this important data collection and presentation exercise has served as a building block for a more systematic analysis of the health situation in the countries. The 2003 Edition will be available in September 2003.
In response to the needs for reliable and comparable information as a basis for decision-making in specific geopolitical areas of the American Region, the following brochures have been recently published:

Basic health indicators for Central America and the Dominican Republic, 2002
		It is the first brochure presenting information from the subregional level and it emerged from joint efforts of the Central American countries and the Dominican Republic carried out since 1995. That year, the project “Information and Communication for Health” (INFOCOM) was created, following an agreement of the Council of Central American Health Ministers (COMISCA) supporting the Plan of Immediate Actions in Health in Central America (PAISCA). The objective of this project is to implement a network of information and communication services in Central America, to support the health plans of the countries of this Subregion. This brochure is a means of disseminating and sharing the existing information in Central America and the Dominican Republic. It includes information on 34 indicators (demographic; socioeconomic; mortality; morbidity; and resources access and coverage), disaggregated at the subnational level.

Basic Indicators 2003, Health Situation on the US-Mexico Border
		This brochure is the product of the effort of PAHO’s Field Office on the U.S.-Mexico border, with the participation of the governments of Mexico and the United States, as well as the state and local governments of both countries. This compilation of indicators places health problems in their social and economic contexts and represents a first step for the health situation analysis on the US-Mexico border. The brochure contains information on 40 indicators divided into five categories (demographic; socioeconomic; mortality; morbidity; and resources, access and coverage). It presents comparative information on data at the national, state and county level covering the 10 border states and the 29 border sister counties and municipalities.

The adoption of the Core Data Initiative in the countries has provided opportunities to strengthen health information systems while generating evidence on which to base the planning of health actions. Efforts should continue to advance its expansion and strengthening in the Region of the Americas.

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Epidemiological Bulletin, Vol. 24 No. 2, June 2003