Table 1 Selected WHO tools and resources for health inequality monitoring
From: Health Inequality Monitoring channel on OpenWHO: capacity strengthening through eLearning
Resource | Description | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
Health Inequality Data Repository [8] | This large repository of disaggregated data represents a variety of health topics, themes and settings. It includes datasets of country indicators, global datasets about select health topics and global datasets about select determinants of health | The data repository facilitates access to a large bank of disaggregated data for health inequality analyses. The data can be explored interactively online and are available for download |
Health Equity Assessment Toolkit (HEAT and HEAT Plus) [9] | This interactive application allows users to explore patterns of inequality, calculate summary measures of inequality and create and export customized graphs, maps and tables. HEAT has a built-in database, while HEAT Plus allows users to upload and work with their own data | HEAT and HEAT Plus is a user-friendly tool designed to facilitate the analysis, interpretation and reporting of disaggregated data and summary measures of health inequality. It allows users to synthesize and visualize data on the status of health inequality in a setting of interest and compare across similar settings |
Health inequality monitoring capacity building workshops | In-person and online workshops, conducted with participants from WHO Member States and Regions, explore the theoretical and practical aspects of health inequality monitoring. The workshop materials and datasets are tailored to the needs and priorities of participating countries Complementary Training-of-Trainers (TOT) sessions encourage further knowledge dissemination through subsequent workshops | Capacity building workshops promote national health inequality monitoring practices and provide an environment for networking among participants. These workshops provide participants with the skills to implement or strengthen health inequality monitoring systems, including interpreting disaggregated data and basic summary measures. Participating countries are encouraged to prepare post-workshop ‘state of inequality’ reports and promote health inequality monitoring within their countries and regions |
Handbook on health inequality monitoring: with a special focus on low- and middle-income countries [4] | The Handbook outlines theoretical concepts related to health inequality monitoring, and elaborates on a stepwise monitoring process, drawing examples from low- and middle-income countries | The Handbook is primarily designed for technical staff of ministries of health as a reference for establishing and strengthening national inequality monitoring systems |
A series of step-by-step manuals for health inequality monitoring provides practical guidance on how to carry out the five-step cycle of health inequality monitoring in the context of national monitoring, as well as specific topics. The five-step cycle covers: (a) determining the scope of monitoring; (b) obtaining data; (c) analysing data; (d) reporting results; and (e) translating knowledge into action | The manuals are designed as highly accessible, practical references for health inequality monitoring. They are each organized according to the five steps, with key questions and checklists for each substep, and examples, references, best practices, and glossaries | |
Workbooks contain exercises that facilitate the application of the general concepts of health inequality monitoring, including questions and prompts to make decisions at each step of monitoring, as well as table templates | The workbooks can be used as detailed internal records of the monitoring process and the rationale for how it was undertaken | |
‘State of inequality’ and ‘Explorations of inequality’ reports [15,16,17,18,19] | This series comprises detailed reports of health inequalities, using disaggregated health data to analyze the latest situation of inequality and changes in inequality over time, contextualized within the current state of knowledge from the broader literature. They discuss the implications of findings, provide examples of approaches to address unfair and remediable inequalities, and present opportunities for strengthening inequality monitoring. The reports integrate digital data visualization technology to present data interactively | These are examples of high-quality health inequality reporting, targeted to audiences with expertise or interest in the featured topic area or setting. In several cases, the reports represent the first systematic global assessment of inequalities in the topic area or setting |