Children and the World Bank Agree: It's Good to Share

by Eric Green · 2010-04-21 11:03:00 UTC
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There is a big push these days to open up information. Open Government. Open Data. Open Access. Open Source. And now, open global health and development.

In January 2010, PLoS Medicine, a peer-reviewed open-access journal, published a commitment from eight major global health agencies to improve health data throughout its life cycle — from collection to access to use. Now, the World Bank is keeping its promise to improve access to data.

On Tuesday, the Bank launched www.data.worldbank.org, a new platform for sharing global health and development data. For the first time, data lovers worldwide have free access to a robust Data Catalog of more than 2,000 indicators from various sources. The interface is clean and easy to use. There is even an API (Application Programming Interface) for developers! This means that people will be able to extend this great service in ways the World Bank may not have envisioned.

That is the way to share.

Increasing access to raw data will change the way we learn about the world. But don't take it from me. I did not invent the Internet. Tim Berners-Lee did. Go ahead and check out the clip below. Inspired? Good. Now here are a few key resources for global health and development data:


Data Management

1). DevInfo: Before you share data, you have to collect and store the information. After the Millennium Development Goals were launched in 2000, there was a recognition that the UN and its member states did not have this capacity. DevInfo was created to fill this gap. Anyone can download this free, customizable database system.

Data Sharing

2). World Bank Open Data Initiative Just what it sounds like.

3). MEASURE DHS: MEASURE has a number of online data tools and is preparing a nice revision to STATCompiler (to be released later this year). No API yet, but a great source of data.

4). WHO Resources: The World Health Organization has a few online data sharing tools, including WHOSIS, Global InfoBase and the Global Health Atlas. The latter tool has the most potential. Each, though, lacks an API and has an interface that is stuck in 1999.

5). DOLPHN: Short for Data Online for Population, Health and Nutrition, DOLPHN offers access to more than 70 key health indicators from various data sources. Hard-to-use design.

Data Visualization

6). Global Health Facts: This resource from the Kaiser Family Foundation enables users to download data and provides the ability to create basic tables and maps.

7). Girls Discovered: This site sets a new standard for web mapping of global health and development data. Data can be downloaded and maps can be exported to Google Earth.

8). Gapminder World: This tool is true to its tagline: "unveiling the beauty of statistics for a fact based world view." Use Gapminder World to explore important trends in global health and development data. Google's Public Data Explorer uses some of the same Trendalyzer technology.

9). AidData: This new site, which we blogged about here last month, was created to make development finance more transparent. The beta version released to the public in March has already seen a number of updates.

Evaluation Reports and Systematic Reviews

10). ALNAP Evaluative Reports Database: Reports about humanitarian action.

11). The Campbell Collaboration Library of Systematic Reviews

12). Eldis: Free access to evidence-based development literature.

13). The Cochrane Library: A resource for systematic reviews.

Add to the list in the comments!

Photo Credit: www.istockphoto.com

Eric Green is an Associate in the Poverty, Gender and Youth Program at the Population Council and an Adj. Asst. Professor in the NYU Master's Program in Global Public Health.
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