Opportunities and Challenges in Public Health Data Collection in Southern Asia: Examples from Western India and Kathmandu Valley, Nepal
Small-scale local data resources may serve to provide a highly resolved estimate of health effects, which can be spatially heterogeneous in highly populated urban centers in developing countries. We aim to highlight the challenges and opportunities of health data registries in a developing world con...
Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
---|---|
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
MDPI AG
2017-06-01
|
Series: | Sustainability |
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/7/1106 |
id |
doaj-db859482f3db41619c9e55a69a2e4c8f |
---|---|
record_format |
Article |
spelling |
doaj-db859482f3db41619c9e55a69a2e4c8f2020-11-24T23:19:37ZengMDPI AGSustainability2071-10502017-06-0197110610.3390/su9071106su9071106Opportunities and Challenges in Public Health Data Collection in Southern Asia: Examples from Western India and Kathmandu Valley, NepalAmruta Nori-Sarma0Anobha Gurung1Gulrez Shah Azhar2Ajit Rajiva3Dileep Mavalankar4Perry Sheffield5Michelle L. Bell6School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USADepartment of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USAPardee RAND Graduate School, Santa Monica, CA 90401, USASchool of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USAPublic Health Foundation of India, Indian Institute of Public Health—Gandhinagar, Gandhinagar, Gujarat 382042, IndiaDepartment of Environmental Medicine and Public Health and Department of Pediatrics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USASchool of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USASmall-scale local data resources may serve to provide a highly resolved estimate of health effects, which can be spatially heterogeneous in highly populated urban centers in developing countries. We aim to highlight the challenges and opportunities of health data registries in a developing world context. In western India, government-collected daily mortality registry data were obtained from five cities, along with daily hospital admissions data from three government hospitals in Ahmedabad. In Nepal, individual-level data on hospital admissions were collected from six major hospitals in Kathmandu Valley. Our process illustrates many challenges for researchers, governments, and record keepers inherent to data collection in developing countries: creating and maintaining a centralized record-keeping system; standardizing the data collected; obtaining data from some local agencies; assuring data completeness and availability of back-ups to the datasets; as well as translating, cleaning, and comparing data within and across localities. We suggest that these “small-data” resources may better serve the analysis of health outcomes than exposure-response functions extrapolated from data collected in other areas of the world.http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/7/1106capacity buildingdata collectionhospital admissionsIndiamortalitypublic healthNepalSouth Asia |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Amruta Nori-Sarma Anobha Gurung Gulrez Shah Azhar Ajit Rajiva Dileep Mavalankar Perry Sheffield Michelle L. Bell |
spellingShingle |
Amruta Nori-Sarma Anobha Gurung Gulrez Shah Azhar Ajit Rajiva Dileep Mavalankar Perry Sheffield Michelle L. Bell Opportunities and Challenges in Public Health Data Collection in Southern Asia: Examples from Western India and Kathmandu Valley, Nepal Sustainability capacity building data collection hospital admissions India mortality public health Nepal South Asia |
author_facet |
Amruta Nori-Sarma Anobha Gurung Gulrez Shah Azhar Ajit Rajiva Dileep Mavalankar Perry Sheffield Michelle L. Bell |
author_sort |
Amruta Nori-Sarma |
title |
Opportunities and Challenges in Public Health Data Collection in Southern Asia: Examples from Western India and Kathmandu Valley, Nepal |
title_short |
Opportunities and Challenges in Public Health Data Collection in Southern Asia: Examples from Western India and Kathmandu Valley, Nepal |
title_full |
Opportunities and Challenges in Public Health Data Collection in Southern Asia: Examples from Western India and Kathmandu Valley, Nepal |
title_fullStr |
Opportunities and Challenges in Public Health Data Collection in Southern Asia: Examples from Western India and Kathmandu Valley, Nepal |
title_full_unstemmed |
Opportunities and Challenges in Public Health Data Collection in Southern Asia: Examples from Western India and Kathmandu Valley, Nepal |
title_sort |
opportunities and challenges in public health data collection in southern asia: examples from western india and kathmandu valley, nepal |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Sustainability |
issn |
2071-1050 |
publishDate |
2017-06-01 |
description |
Small-scale local data resources may serve to provide a highly resolved estimate of health effects, which can be spatially heterogeneous in highly populated urban centers in developing countries. We aim to highlight the challenges and opportunities of health data registries in a developing world context. In western India, government-collected daily mortality registry data were obtained from five cities, along with daily hospital admissions data from three government hospitals in Ahmedabad. In Nepal, individual-level data on hospital admissions were collected from six major hospitals in Kathmandu Valley. Our process illustrates many challenges for researchers, governments, and record keepers inherent to data collection in developing countries: creating and maintaining a centralized record-keeping system; standardizing the data collected; obtaining data from some local agencies; assuring data completeness and availability of back-ups to the datasets; as well as translating, cleaning, and comparing data within and across localities. We suggest that these “small-data” resources may better serve the analysis of health outcomes than exposure-response functions extrapolated from data collected in other areas of the world. |
topic |
capacity building data collection hospital admissions India mortality public health Nepal South Asia |
url |
http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/7/1106 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT amrutanorisarma opportunitiesandchallengesinpublichealthdatacollectioninsouthernasiaexamplesfromwesternindiaandkathmanduvalleynepal AT anobhagurung opportunitiesandchallengesinpublichealthdatacollectioninsouthernasiaexamplesfromwesternindiaandkathmanduvalleynepal AT gulrezshahazhar opportunitiesandchallengesinpublichealthdatacollectioninsouthernasiaexamplesfromwesternindiaandkathmanduvalleynepal AT ajitrajiva opportunitiesandchallengesinpublichealthdatacollectioninsouthernasiaexamplesfromwesternindiaandkathmanduvalleynepal AT dileepmavalankar opportunitiesandchallengesinpublichealthdatacollectioninsouthernasiaexamplesfromwesternindiaandkathmanduvalleynepal AT perrysheffield opportunitiesandchallengesinpublichealthdatacollectioninsouthernasiaexamplesfromwesternindiaandkathmanduvalleynepal AT michellelbell opportunitiesandchallengesinpublichealthdatacollectioninsouthernasiaexamplesfromwesternindiaandkathmanduvalleynepal |
_version_ |
1725577914497368064 |