Open Comparisons in Public Health Not Only a Report But Also a Practical Tool Package

Abstract

Abstract Sweden is a high-income country with about 10 million people 2018. The public health policy has a clear focus on equitable health throughout the population, and a goal to reduce avoidable health inequalities within a generation. The 21 regions and 290 municipalities in Sweden are political self-government and important as most of the welfare services that impact citizens’ lifelong health fall under their remit, for example; healthcare, childcare, education, social service, elderly care and support to people with disabilities, some emergency services, environmental issues urban planning. Therefore, the municipalities and regions need reliable data that can be compared. Such data is available in the report Open Comparisons in Public Health (OCPH). The OPCH 2019 demonstrate large inequities in determinants of health and in health outcomes between municipalities in Sweden. Further work is needed to reduce these unjust and avoidable differences. The OPCH 2019 is not only a report, but rather a concept with additional practical tools to be used by local and regional public health officers, leaders and politicians. Following tools, developed in collaboration with stakeholders, are available in the concept OPCH. OPCH 2019: various managementresearch review, result comparisons, suggested improvement areas Factsheet: for leaders and politicians at policy level Municipality reports: tailored for public health officers to save time Socioeconomic compass: a tool to analyze differences in socioeconomics across municipalities Kolada: the Swedish database for municipal benchmarking Toolbox: tools to facilitate systematic interpretation and analysis The National Public Health Agency: various statistics are available for additional analyses Key messages The OPCH and the tools contributes to initiate local/regional development, improvement, monitoring and analysis concerning the quality and efficiency of the services delivered by these organisations. Governmental policies are important structural links16, but according to the OCPH 2019 the reduction of health disparities also requires measures in each local community.