Course Health Society Course ID HEA 101 Topic

Course: Health & Society Course ID: HEA 101 Topic 12 Health Indicators Dr. Nafisa Huq SPH, IUB nafisahuqneela@gmail. com

2/29

What are health Indicators? Health indicators measure different aspects of health in a community or a group of people or an individual. • A Health indicator is a characteristic of an individual or population which can be used to describe one or more aspects of the health of the individuals’ or population. • These characteristics should be measurable (directly or indirectly). 3/29

Examples of characteristics that we measure to understand health-Directly • • • Do you smoke? =Yes/No How many years have you studied? =6/9/12 What is your source of drinking water ? Tap water/pond water Do you have the following diseases? Tuberculosis/Diabetes 4/29

Examples of characteristics that we measure to understand health-Indirectly • What is your socio-economic condition? • What is the quality of your academic achievements? Operational Definition 5/29

Common Frameworks for Health Indicators 1. Broad “Determinants of Health” - emphasizes the physical environment, social environment, health behaviors, medical care. 2. “Life Course” - emphasizes conditions/experiences from early in life (e. g. , 0 -5) , interactions at developmental stages throughout life in optimizing our health "trajectory". 3. “Social Determinants” emphasizes educational, economic, and social conditions and interactions in shaping health. 6/29

Community report of 1000 people between 40 -65 years of age 900 800 700 600 500 Community report of 1000 people between 40 -65 years of age 400 300 200 100 0 Smoke Went to school Water from pond Has CVD Has Diabetes Had Typhoid 7/29

Health Indicators and the Real World: A Case Study Consider 3 -year-old Amena’s experience being hospitalized in Dhaka, two hundred Kilometres from home. 8/29

WHY WAS Amena IN THE HOSPITAL? Because she had a severe lung infection that could not be handled in the community health level. BUT, WHY DID SHE HAVE lung infection? Because her infection was triggered by mould in her house. BUT, WHY DOES HER HOUSE HAVE MOULD? Because her house has air quality problems. BUT, WHY IS THE AIR QUALITY POOR? Because water leaks into the house and the ventilation is inadequate. BUT, WHY DOES THE HOUSE HAVE THESE PROBLEMS? Because the house was poorly built and her parents cannot afford to do the repairs. BUT, WHY CAN’T HER parents AFFORD TO DO REPAIRS? Because they are unemployed and have little income. BUT, WHY DO they HAVE A LOW INCOME? Because he didn’t graduate high school and is disabled. BUT WHY. . . ? 9/29

Questions don’t stop there. Amena’s experience might also trigger questions about the community in general: 1. Is lung infection among children common in the community? 2. How common are the various factors that led to Amena’s hospitalization? 3. What can be done? 10/29

Benefits of health indicators • • Indicators help to answer important questions, like: How healthy is our community? What things affect health in our community? Are our programs, services or policies working? Are we moving towards or away from our vision of health? 11/29

Common Health Indicators: § § Life expectancy at birth Birth weight Mortality rates Literacy rates 12/29

Women related health indicators Ante natal care (ANC) coverage § Births attended by skilled birth attendant (SBA) § Contraceptive prevalence. § 13/29

Children related health indicators Percentage of children immunized (EPI) § % of children going to school. § Is Child development alright? § § Anthropometric measurements (height and weight) 14/29

Social indicators of health § § § Income Population density Transport facilities Social security Housing facilities 15/29

Use of Health Indicators • • To find out health needs To monitoring population health To plan health activities. To make comparisons: q Over time (trends) q Over geographic areas q Over groups of people • Inform policy and policy makers, and can be used to promote accountability among governmental and non-governmental agencies. 16/29

17/29

18/29

19/29

20/29

21/29

22/29

Mortality indicator used to compare death rate over time in different countries 23/29

24/29

25/29

26/29

BDHS What is BDHS? • It stands for Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey. • This is a country wide health survey carried out by NIPORT. • The BDHS data provides information about the health status of people of Bangladesh. 27/28

What are other sources to get data? • Census • Hospital records • Organizational records 28/29