Belgian health-related data in three international databases

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Health Informatics
• Health Services Research

Background:

• International health databases are crucial for global health monitoring and policy.
• Assessing the availability of national data in these databases is essential for accurate health surveillance.
• Belgium's health data landscape requires examination within major international repositories.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the availability of Belgian healthcare data within three key international health databases.
• To identify gaps in data timeliness and coverage for Belgium.
• To assess data availability in the World Health Organization European Health for All Database (WHO-HFA), OECD Health Data, and EUROSTAT.

Main Methods:

• A systematic review of Belgian data availability across selected indicators in the WHO-HFA, OECD Health Data, and EUROSTAT databases.
• Verification of data sources for available Belgian health indicators.
• Analysis of the timeliness of available Belgian health data.

Main Results:

• A significant lack of recent Belgian health data was identified across all three databases.
• Recent data coverage was lowest for the WHO-HFA database (27%) and highest for OECD Health Data (73%).
• Timeliness issues were particularly pronounced for health status and mortality indicators.

Conclusions:

• The primary challenge for Belgian health data in international databases is a lack of timeliness.
• Reforms in Belgium's state structure have contributed to delays in national mortality data.
• Ongoing initiatives aim to improve the timely submission of Belgian health data to international bodies.