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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Data collection system needs to be revamped: Bibek Debroy -Samarth Bansal

Data collection system needs to be revamped: Bibek Debroy -Samarth Bansal

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published Published on Aug 2, 2016   modified Modified on Aug 2, 2016
-The Hindu

Major challenges in health data data collection discussed

Data collection system in India needs to be completely revamped as different sources lead to different conclusions, Dr. Bibek Debroy, a member of the NITI Aayog, said at a conference held last week.

During the “Better data for better health” conference, organised by the observer research foundation (ORF), Dr. Debroy said the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), the largest organisation in India conducting regular surveys to assist the government in socio-economic planning and policy-making, is severely starved of enumerators.

“The enumerators in the course of the last pay commission were promoted, so they are no longer enumerators,” he explained.

Two major challenges in health data collection were discussed in the event.

The first one was the urgent need to get district and sub-district level data as all India and state level figures have only limited use in informed policy making. The second was the irregular intervals at which data are collected.

As for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), indicators need to be finalised first before figuring out how to improve data collection systems, Dr Debroy said. He added that silos within the health sector lead to inefficiencies in the public health expenditure.

'Administrative data can’t capture everything adequately'

Administrative data sources often end up acting like surveys, Ms. Priyanka Saksena, technical officer at the World Health Organisation (WHO), said. “While administrative systems are required to capture all data from all people, they tend to selectively capture some data from some people,” she explained.

“We don’t want survey instruments to replicate everything and we know that administrative data can’t capture everything adequately. But these are design issues we need to think about,” Ms. Saxena added.

There are three major methods for data collection. First, census, where data are collected for every individual in the population. Second, administrative data, that is collected as a result of an organisation's daily operations. For example, death and birth registration records. Third, surveys, which are based on responses of only a part of a population.

Leading demographer P.M. Kulkarni said that adequate funds and competence of survey organisations are necessary to conduct big surveys. To keep the sampling error low, sample sizes need to be large enough.

NITI Aayog, in collaboration with the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, will soon come out with a set of indicators to monitor progress towards attaining the objectives of the National Development Agenda, which will have a 15 year vision, a seven year strategy, and a three year action plan.

Dr. Debroy mentioned that NITI Aayog would not benchmark the States based to their health outcomes. Instead, it will be on their achievements in terms of district level health outcomes.

The Hindu, 2 August, 2016, http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/data-collection-system-needs-to-be-revamped-bibek-debroy/article8933461.ece


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