WHO Reference Group on Health Statistics (RGHS)
Advising and supporting WHO in the organization’s efforts to assist Member States to achieve maximal gains in population health, through policies informed by statistics, analytics and evidence.
 

Background

 

Comprehensive, timely, and reliable health and health-related statistics are fundamental for assessing the state of a population’s health and how it is changing.

The Reference Group on Health Statistics (RGHS) serves as a scientific and strategic advisory group that facilitates the exchange of knowledge and application of health statistics, and accelerates efforts to improve data collection practices and analytical capacity in countries. The primary role of the RGHS is to provide advice to WHO and enable knowledge sharing among experts with the goal of supporting WHO to benefit from the best possible scientific and strategic advice regarding the generation, use, interpretation and dissemination of global health statistics. RGHS supports WHO in its efforts to assist Member States to achieve maximal gains in population health through policies informed by statistics, analytics and evidence.

The World Health Organization established the RGHS in 2013 to provide advice on population health statistics to WHO with a focus on methodological and data issues related to the measurement of mortality and cause-of-death patterns. The group facilitated interaction between multilateral development institutions and other independent academic groups with WHO expert groups in specific subject areas from 2013 to 2017.

With recent developments in global health and an increased focus on monitoring and accountability, the Reference Group was renewed in 2019 as a technical advisory group, aiding WHO in achieving its Thirteenth General Programme of Work (GPW 13) and its “Triple Billion” targets as well as the health-related SDGs. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has also underscored the need for strong health information systems, while revealing long-existing persistent data gaps and fragmentation that must be urgently addressed.

 

 

RGHS - December 2019

 

Measuring impact

With the establishment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Global Action Plan to accelerate progress towards achieving the SDGs, WHO is designated as a coordinating agency to monitor the health-related targets to determine whether the world is on track to reach the 2030 goals. Several other global health initiatives also require vastly improved health data, including monitoring progress on emerging issues such as noncommunicable diseases, mental health, and antimicrobial resistance. Furthermore, WHO will measure the impact of its Thirteenth General Programme of Work, 2019-2023 (GPW13) through its Results Framework which includes a balanced scorecard, the WHO Impact Framework, and country case studies.

The WHO Impact Framework includes tracking of the ‘triple billion targets’ on:

  • one billion more people benefiting from Universal Health Coverage
  • one billion more people better protected from health emergencies
  • one billion more people enjoying better health and wellbeing.

Each target has a defined set of milestones and indicators to guide the measurement of progress while simultaneously addressing a comprehensive set of strategic priorities to ensure maximal gains in population health. WHO must also accelerate efforts among global partners, including academic and research groups, to improve analytical capacity and data collection systems in countries.

The Reference Group facilitates knowledge sharing and collaboration between experts by bringing together the best scientific knowledge and expertise in health statistics and systems knowledge to support WHO’s data and analytics, as well as delivery for impact science. Advising WHO in its efforts to support countries to benefit from relevant and actionable data to drive continuous and equitable health improvement and policy change.

Expert recruitment

The membership profile of the Reference Group covers a wide range of expertise and skills. Members of the RGHS are leading experts in their field and are selected from academia, national statistical offices, ministries of health, and UN Agencies. Subject-specific observers and the WHO Secretariat are invited to meetings.

Expressions of interest for persons interested in joining the 2019-2022 itteration of the Reference Group on Health Statistics closed on 6 September 2019.

 

Operations

The Reference Group uses a flexible working model in which smaller sub-meetings with limited numbers of expert members (Task Forces) are organized to focus on specific topics. Currently three Task Fores (Task Force 1: GATHER, Task Force 2: Mortality, Task Force 3: Causes of Death) are being progressed for the 2019-2022 iteration of the RGHS. Task Force groups and all RGHS Stakeholders come together for full meetings of the RGHS on an annual basis.

 

Objectives

To provide technical and strategic advice to WHO to ensure that WHO’s practices in data processing and synthesis, and in producing and using population-health related statistics, are evidence-based.

  • Giving advice to WHO on data principles and best practices to guide comparable population health statistics at the global, regional, and country levels.

  • Functioning as a general global platform to discuss the challenges and progress in reporting on the health-related SDGs with a focus on the methodological and data issues, including data processing.

  • Advising WHO on engaging in different interagency processes involving global health statistics.

  • Providing expert advice to WHO about the interpretation and use of forecasting studies for policy dialogue, including the appropriateness of forecasting methods.


 

 

 

To advise WHO on strengthening collaboration with external research groups in advancing the methodological agenda for population-health estimates

  • Advising WHO on a broad range of population-health related statistics with a focus on cost-effective approaches to identifying and resolving key data gaps and data quality issues.

  • Advise WHO on active engagement for strengthening the scientific basis for global health estimates and related work, such as improving methods and skills for measuring patterns of cause-specific burdens of diseases, risk factors and injuries, and to collaborate wherever possible in the production of those estimates.

  • Advise WHO on facilitating collaboration and scientific exchange between disease-specific expert groups within WHO and work on cause-specific mortality and morbidity of diseases and injuries, with partners;

  • Advise WHO on convening expert task forces on specialized topics that require in-depth technical work to advance the methodological agenda.

 

To guide WHO on strengthening data and information systems for health:

  • Providing strategic and scientific advice to WHO to support the strengthening of country data and information systems for health, including data generation and critical analyses of data quality.


 

Promote GATHER compliance in producing population-health related statistics

  • Offering recommendations to WHO on standards for official statistics, including adherence to the GATHER Guidelines, and on data principles underlying the use or endorsement of external analyses and estimates.

 

 

 Reference Group members

 

Dr Leontine Alkema

Assistant Professor in Biostatistics

Professor Lalit Dandona

Distinguished Research Professor, Public Health Foundation of India, and National Chair of Population Health

Professor Emmanuela Gakidou

Professor of Health Metric Sciences and Senior Director, Organizational Development and Training

Dr Nayu Ikeda

Section Head of Population Health Metrics

Dr Ardeshir Khosravi

Director of Health Statistics and Health Economics

Dr Soewarta Kosen

Researcher and Member of Scientific Research Council

Professor Sarah Lewington

Professor of Epidemiology and Medical Statistics

Professor Rafael Lozano

Director of Health Systems

Dr George Mensah

Director

Dr Maria Margarita Ronderos

Technical Coordinator

Professor Christopher J.L. Murray

Director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), and Professor and Chair of Health Metrics Sciences

Dr Thet Thet Mu

Deputy Director-General of Health Information

Dr Randa Mohammed. S. Nooh

Training Supervisor & Head of the Research Committee

Dr Elena Varavikova

Senior advisor

Dr Benn Sartorius

Senior Researcher and Oxford PI for the Global Research on Antimicrobial Resistance (GRAM) Project

Dr Joshua Salomon

Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and Professor of Medicine for the Center for Health Policy and Center for Primary Care Outcomes and Research

Professor Gonghuan Yang

Professor Samba O. Sow

Director-General of the Center for Vaccine Development