GENEVA — In a decisive move to fortify health information systems and enhance global health outcomes against the backdrop of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) has announced a comprehensive new approach designed to drastically improve access to life-saving data. The newly introduced initiative, known as the SCORE for Health Data Technical Package, arrives as health authorities around the world grapple with systemic information deficits exposed by the global health crisis.
The COVID-19 pandemic has ruthlessly highlighted the urgent, persistent need for timely, reliable, and actionable data to drive strategic public health interventions. Despite decades of advancement in medical science, a significant number of countries continue to lack the fundamental infrastructure required to routinely gather vital health data. Furthermore, many nations struggle with a profound shortage of the analytical capacity necessary to translate available numbers into effective health actions, robust emergency responses, and sustainable healthcare policies.
"Countries must be able to measure progress to make progress," said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, emphasizing the foundational role that robust statistics play in modern public health administration. "Particularly during COVID-19, reliable data is the best way to coordinate response efforts and improve health in all areas."
Access to accurate health statistics is not merely an administrative exercise; it is a critical prerequisite for understanding specific, localized country needs in order to improve population health and save lives. In environments characterized by constrained fiscal space and competing national priorities, precise data also helps governments and international partners direct scarce resources precisely to where they are needed most, maximizing the impact of every available intervention.
To address these systemic vulnerabilities, the SCORE acronym—standing for Survey, Count, Optimize, Review, and Enable—encompasses a holistic strategy aimed at improving the availability of timely, reliable, validated, and comparable health data across diverse national contexts. For the first time, this initiative brings together all the key elements required for optimized health information system performance into a single, harmonized package. Simply put, SCORE is designed to help governments around the globe set high benchmarks and steadily improve standards in healthcare delivery and public health monitoring.
The development of the package comes in direct response to the glaring gaps in data availability that were prominently highlighted in the WHO World Health Statistics 2020 report. To bridge these divides, SCORE incorporates more than 90 universally accepted tools and established standards specifically tailored for health information systems strengthening.
The initiative has garnered robust support from international philanthropic partners who recognize the profound utility of standardizing global health metrics. "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, which provided vital funding to support the creation and rollout of the SCORE for Health Data Technical Package. "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." WHO officials have expressed deep pride in partnering with the Bloomberg Philanthropies Data for Health Initiative to deliver this timely resource to member states.
The initial release of the package establishes a foundational framework consisting of vital structural documents aimed at initiating immediate improvements in national data collection architectures. This rollout is viewed by health leaders as an indispensable step toward addressing long-standing statistical deficiencies that have long hampered equitable health development.
"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," added Dr. Samira Asma, Assistant Director-General for Data, Analytics and Delivery for Impact at WHO. Urging immediate action from the global community, Dr. Asma stressed that investments in national statistical systems cannot be delayed if the world hopes to navigate the current crisis and achieve broader developmental goals. "We must act now to invest in statistical systems in countries, respond to this pandemic and meet the SDGs and the Triple Billion targets. 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."
Public health experts emphasize that country-owned, dislocated, and disaggregated data will be essential for building more resilient, equitable, and sustainable health systems going forward. The disruptions and devastation wrought by COVID-19 serve as both a sobering wake-up call and a stark reminder of the monumental challenges that health systems still have to address. Yet, within this crisis lies a transformative opportunity to build back better through international solidarity, transparent information-sharing, and deepened cross-border collaboration.
The SCORE package exemplifies how a collaborative, multilateral approach can directly benefit individual countries by providing a common set of practical tools rooted in shared, globally recognized standards. Designed to be practical, highly actionable, and flexible enough to accommodate varying national contexts, the initiative underscores the core philosophy that the global community will only succeed in combatting COVID-19 and future health emergencies if nations work closely together.
Additional components of the comprehensive SCORE Technical Package are scheduled to be released later this year. These upcoming deliverables will include the detailed SCORE Assessment Instrument alongside global, regional, and country-specific status reports. Together, these forthcoming resources are intended to provide a complete, end-to-end package of information enabling governments to effectively plan, execute, and monitor progress against national and subnational priorities, as well as overarching global targets. Alyssa Palmquist, World Health Organization.
