WHO/Europe has released a new data visualization dashboard that allows users to quickly identify key challenges, existing policy responses and progress towards agreed targets for noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) in Europe.
The data can be explored interactively in easy-to-understand graphs providing an overview as well as trends for any of the 53 Member States in the WHO European Region. Presented at a WHO launch event that included discussion by experts, the new data visualization dashboard is a useful tool for policy-makers, researchers, and the general public, showing the complex and changing nature of NCDs.
Different health trends for different countries
NCDs are by far the leading cause of mortality across the WHO European Region. Taken together, the four main NCDs – cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases – account for nearly 75% of deaths across the Region.
“The overall picture of NCD risk factors is changing rapidly in the Region. At the same time, the main trends are different across the Region. For example, cardiovascular disease rates in eastern Europe or central Asia are still high but falling quite fast. Western Europe, on the other hand, has low rates of cardiovascular diseases, with cancer becoming the most prominent cause of premature deaths,” says Dr Kremlin Wickramasinghe, Acting Head of the WHO European Office for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases (NCD Office) that developed the dashboard.
“The new dashboard is a tool that can inform our policy discussions with the latest available data.”
“Having such detailed data and the ability to compare statistics in a visually simple interface can really help us to understand what is happening on the country level. This allows us to shift from a one-size-fits-all approach to NCD prevention and control to more precise policies that are based on the power of data”, said Dr Rifat Atun, Professor of Global Health Systems and Faculty Chair for the Harvard Ministerial Leadership Program, USA. As a member of the WHO Regional Director for Europe’s Advisory Council on Innovation for Noncommunicable Diseases (NCD Advisory Council), Dr Atun highlighted the importance of evidence-informed decision-making for NCD prevention and control.
Showing the main risk factors
The dashboard consists of seven graphics that contain the latest WHO data available from all 53 countries of the WHO European Region. The graphics visualize four major indicator groups:
- premature mortality (due to the four major NCDs and due to the major NCD group in a given country);
- biological risk factors (prevalence of overweight/obesity and raised blood pressure);
- behavioural risk factors (tobacco use and alcohol consumption levels); and
- progress monitor indicators (implementation of measures recommended by WHO to tackle NCDs).
The indicators aim to encourage countries to align their policies with the WHO European Programme of Work, 2020–2025 and the Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. These documents express a common vision that the world should be a place where every person, without exception, has access to the best health care.
At the Dashboard launch event Dr Iveta Nagyova, President of the European Public Health Association and member of the NCD Advisory Council, spoke of the need for concrete and comparable health indicators that every health professional in the WHO European Region can utilize in their day-to-day work.
“Today, decisions in the field of NCD prevention still tend to be taken based on historic mortality levels, without any reference to more precise data. The WHO European NCD Dashboard helps to spread good practices based on quality evidence”, she added
Digital tool for better health
“Compiling and presenting comprehensive health-related data to policy-makers and the general public with the aim to identify priority actions and increase accountability is one of the key constitutional mandates of WHO,” said Dr Ivo Rakovac, Regional Advisor for NCD Surveillance at WHO’s NCD Office.
“The dashboard will be very useful for policy-makers, researchers and everyone else who wants to know what needs to be done to decrease the NCD burden and make the WHO European Region a healthier place,” he emphasized.
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