Indepth launches two websites
Two websites that will give governments, policy makers and researchers information on the health needs of people in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) have been launched in Accra.
Dubbed the INDEPTH Data Repository and INDEPTHStats, the websites are global sites for research, data management and sharing aimed at improving access to health and science research.
The Data Repository site is the first site that specialises in longitudinal population-based data from LMICs.
Generated by the International Network for the Demographic Evaluation of Populations and Their Health (INDEPTH) network, the two sites, which contain statistics, images and graphs of key health and demographic indicators, are freely available to the public.
The network comprises 20 countries, with 38 research centres and 44 health and demographic surveillance system (HDSS) field sites in Africa, Asia and Oceania.
The Executive Director of the network, Professor Osman Sankoh, who launched the sites, assured users of quality data in a pre-defined event-history format for approximately 800,000 individuals who were part of the research.
The data repository, which can be assessed from www.indepth-ishare.org, contains datasets collected from the various research sites, with some dating back to 1996, while INDEPTHStats, which is assessed from www.indepth-ishare.org/indepthstats, visualises key demographic indicators.
According to Prof Sankoh, INDEPTHStats included crude birth and death rates, age specific fertility and death rates, infant, child and under-five mortality rate, as well as other health and demographic indicators.
Dataset in the repository, he said, was documented using an internationally accepted metadata standard, enabling data users to quickly identify and download the data that they required.
He said the data were generated from countries where such high quality data, particularly longitudinal data, were traditionally very difficult to obtain.
Information from Ghana’s Kintampo, Navrongo and Dodowa Health Research centres can be obtained from the websites as well as other sites from Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Vietnam, among others.
By Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
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