GENEVA — In a major global effort to strengthen health information systems and improve population health outcomes, particularly in the shadow of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) has announced a comprehensive new approach to secure universal access to life-saving data. The newly unveiled initiative, known as the SCORE for Health Data Technical Package, arrives as health authorities around the world grapple with systemic gaps in data collection, infrastructure, and analytical capacity.
The unprecedented disruptions and pressures brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic have starkly highlighted the urgent, life-or-death need for timely, reliable, and actionable data to drive strategic public health interventions. Despite advances in medical science and global health collaboration, a significant number of countries still lack both the foundational infrastructure required to routinely gather vital health statistics and the necessary analytical expertise to translate raw data into effective health policies and emergency responses.
“Countries must be able to measure progress to make progress,” said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, emphasizing the foundational philosophy behind the new technical package. “Particularly during COVID-19, reliable data is the best way to coordinate response efforts and improve health in all areas.”
Accurate and comprehensive health data serve as the bedrock of any functioning public health system. They are necessary to understand specific, localized country needs in order to improve health outcomes and save lives at both the national and community levels. Furthermore, transparent and validated data helps governments and international organizations direct scarce financial and logistical resources precisely to where they are needed most, eliminating guesswork and maximizing the impact of humanitarian and developmental aid.
Designed to address these persistent challenges, the SCORE Technical Package—which stands for Survey, Count, Optimize, Review, and Enable—aims to radically improve the global availability of timely, reliable, validated, and comparable health data. For the first time, this initiative brings together all the key elements required for optimized health information system performance into a single, harmonized package. Put simply, the framework is engineered to help governments around the globe establish rigorous benchmarks and steadily elevate the standards of healthcare delivery and public health monitoring.
The development of the SCORE package comes as a direct response to the glaring data availability and quality challenges underscored in the WHO World Health Statistics 2020 report. To bridge these gaps, the package incorporates more than 90 universally accepted tools and standards specifically curated for strengthening health information systems.
The initiative has received robust backing from international philanthropic partners, most notably through a strategic collaboration with the Bloomberg Philanthropies Data for Health Initiative, which provided crucial funding to support the development and rollout of the resource.
“Using data to inform public health priorities and strategies has never been more important,” said Dr. Kelly Henning, Director of Public Health Programs at Bloomberg Philanthropies. “The SCORE Technical Package provides country governments around the world with high-quality, essential technical guidance so that countries can strengthen their own data systems.”
The leadership at the World Health Organization has expressed immense pride in partnering with the Bloomberg Philanthropies Data for Health Initiative to deliver this timely and vital resource to member states at a critical juncture in modern public health history.
Dr. Samira Asma, Assistant Director-General for Data, Analytics, and Delivery for Impact at WHO, underscored the moral and operational imperative of immediate action. “We must keep score to save lives. WHO is committed to working with countries and partners to rapidly scale up capacity for data collection and use in order to improve policy and performance,” Dr. Asma noted.
“We must act now to invest in statistical systems in countries, respond to this pandemic, and meet the Sustainable Development Goals and the Triple Billion targets,” she continued. “Our window of opportunity is closing, and we cannot wait to address data gaps. Data use to address country needs has to be a priority today.”
As public health experts and policymakers look toward the future, it is increasingly clear that country-owned, disaggregated data will be essential for building more resilient, equitable, and sustainable health systems. The COVID-19 pandemic has served simultaneously as a severe wake-up call and a stark reminder of the systemic vulnerabilities that the international community must still address. At the same time, health leaders view this historic crisis as a unique opportunity to build back better through international solidarity, transparent information-sharing, and deep cross-border collaboration.
The SCORE framework stands out as a prime example of how a collaborative approach can tangibly benefit countries by equipping them with a common set of instruments rooted in shared, global standards. The package has been intentionally designed to be practical, highly actionable, and flexible enough to adapt to diverse national contexts and resource levels. Public health advocates emphasize that the global community will only be successful in combatting COVID-19 and future health emergencies if nations work together and base their decisions on solid evidence.
The initial rollout of the SCORE Technical Package includes two foundational documents aimed at setting immediate standards for health data governance. However, the WHO has confirmed that additional components of the package are scheduled for release later in the year. These forthcoming additions will include the SCORE Assessment Instrument, as well as comprehensive global, regional, and country status reports.
Together, these upcoming releases will form a complete, end-to-end package of information designed to help governments plan, execute, and monitor progress against national and subnational priorities, while also aligning local efforts with broader global health targets.
