Health open data indicators and repositories in Europe

In the last decade the number of available data related to health and healthcare in Europe has grown exponentially; increased by the massive penetration of mobile devices and applications belonging to the field of health and wellness, supplemented in most cases with wearables that collect information: bracelets, watches, shoes, etc. This type of personal and private information is usually managed by proprietary applications. Nevertheless, much of these data, in the near-term and midterm, will be accessible to society through a corporate and commercial exploitation, as the case of the pharmaceutical industry.

On the other hand, in the public sphere, the evolution of information systems (including mobility), the development of sensor technology and communication protocols for clinical and medical devices, as well as the systematic and digitized capture of clinical information have generated an ecosystem with a great potential for applications: from assisting in the diagnosis, resource optimization, appearance of customized clinical treatments or prevention improvements, among others.

Nevertheless, from the point of view of open data, currently the information that is structured and available with a relevant level of maturity are statistical indicators related to different aspects of health and quality of healthcare in the European Union, highlighting the European Core health indicators (ECHI) list of the European Commission with 88 indicators, of which 60 are directly related to health, which are segmented by gender, age, socioeconomic status and territory. These indicators allow comparisons between different metrics, for example, comparing health indicators and infant mortality with demographic factors such as population and birth rate in a specific country. In addition, as part of the ECHI initiative, the European Commission provides a tool to explore these datasets, ECHI data tool to create graphics and make calculations with the information.

Other health data initiatives worthy of special mention are the data portal of Global Health Observatory (GHO) under the World Health Organization (WHO) that manages and opens up global data and statistical indicators related to health sector; and the data portal of the Regional Office of WHO in Europe, which brings together different databases with statistical health information. The aim of the latter platform is to allow the international comparison of aggregate indicators with the results of disease surveillance and monitoring of specialized areas of health policy.

There are also other European health data repositories such as HFA-DB (European Health for All database), HMDB (European hospital morbidity database) and EISAH (European Information System on Alcohol and Health) for which a portal has been created that provides rapid and integrated access through thematic search tools, visualization and analysis of each indicator of the whole database. The European Health Information Gateway project is integrated within 2020 Health program, the health policy of WHO for Europe that seeks to improve the health and welfare, reduce inequality and ensure universal health coverage. Thanks to the above indicators it will be possible to measure and quantify the state of the European program.

Nationally, within the framework of the EU, local initiatives are being carried out in all countries at different stages of development. However, nowadays UK is the leading nation in this sector thanks to its Public Health Service (NHS) data portal. This platform does not only include statistical data and indicators, but also assessments of each health facility, cost of treatment, results of clinical treatment, incidence of diseases, etc., which allows citizens to have full transparency about the impact of their taxes in health sector and compare the level of medical care in each area. In addition, this site provides administrations and management centers with the information to make decisions and improve the level of services.

Europe has already taken the first steps in releasing health information through data repositories and indicators; nevertheless, now it is necessary a common effort to make these resources become high value products and services for citizens, building better informed societies.