Liberating data: the crucial weapon in the fight against NCDs

Abstract

The world is facing a rapidly worsening epidemic of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). 1 GBD 2013 Mortality and Causes of Death CollaboratorsGlobal, regional, and national age–sex specific all-cause and cause-specific mortality for 240 causes of death, 1990–2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013. Lancet. 2015; 385: 117-171 Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (5370) Google Scholar Unchecked, NCDs will have untold health, social, and economic consequences for individuals and societies, especially in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) with weak health systems that are ill prepared to manage the swift epidemiological transition that brought the large and increasing burden of NCDs. 2 Lee JT Hamid F Pati S Atun R Millett C Impact of noncommunicable disease multi-morbidity on healthcare utilisation and out-of-pocket expenditures in middle-income countries: cross sectional analysis. PLoS One. 2015; 10: e0127199 PubMed Google Scholar , 3 Atun R Jaffar S Nishtar S et al. Improving responsiveness of health systems to non-communicable diseases. Lancet. 2013; 381: 690-697 Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (188) Google Scholar , 4 Atun R Gale EA The challenge of diabetes in sub-Saharan Africa. Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol. 2015; 3: 675-677 Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (29) Google Scholar Liberating data: the WHO responseWe write in response to the Comment1 by Justine Davies and colleagues in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology relating to global data sharing. We appreciate the issues raised in the Comment. WHO considers that health research and surveillance data are global public goods, and supports timely and transparent release of such data to help inform health policy making and planning. We are working to facilitate greater openness and access to data, both in communicable and non-communicable disease (NCD) areas. Full-Text PDF Liberating non-communicable disease dataJustine Davies and colleagues1,2 recently emphasised the need to make non-communicable disease (NCD) data widely available to researchers to enable the generation of new knowledge to facilitate further understanding of the global burden of NCDs.1,2 They cite the WHO STEPs surveys, undertaken in 122 countries, as examples of potentially valuable data, whose accessibility to the research community has been restricted. Full-Text PDF Liberating data: the WHO response – Authors' replyWe would like to thank Oleg Chestnov and colleagues for their Correspondence related to our Comment.1 We are happy to hear that WHO recognises the importance of data sharing for health service planning for both communicable and non-communicable diseases (NCDs), with due sensitivity given to data ownership and appropriate credit given to those who collected the data. Full-Text PDF Liberating data to combat NCDsAs part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, WHO Member States have set a target of reducing premature mortality from non-communicable diseases (NCDs) by a third. The authors of the 2016 World Health Day Report1 recommend that Member States strengthen their capacity to collect, analyse, and use NCD data. Unfortunately, many low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) are not up to such a challenge for any NCD. Full-Text PDF