Health Indicators in the European Regions (ISARE and I2SARE)
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Background
European Union (EU) regions are becoming more important at political and administrative levels. In health monitoring, exchanging health indicators allows health professionals and decision-makers to put their region’s characteristics in the wider context of other EU regions.
Within the framework of the Health Monitoring Programme of the European Commission, the Fédération Nationale des Observatoires Régionaux de Santé (FNORS) initiated a project entitled Health Indicators in the European Regions or ISARE (Indicateurs de Santé des Régions Européennes) and a subsequent I2SARE project.
INIsPHO is responsible for compiling Irish data, both North and South, to the ISARE and I2SARE projects.
Aims
The aim of the ISARE projects are to develop European wide common public health indicators.
The aim of the ISARE projects are to develop European wide common public health indicators.
The aims of the ISARE (stages I-III) project were:
- to test feasibility of data collection at regional level within EU member states
- with the data collected, to show that regional data can be used and compared to other regional data
- to make recommendations to the European Commission on moving to building a health database at regional level.
The aims of the subsequent I2SARE project (beginning in mid 2008) are:
- create a typology of the health regions of Europe and geographical units below regional level
- collect and update data at regional and below regional level
- produce and disseminate health profiles for all European regions.
Progress report (updated June 2008)
The first phase, ISARE I (1999-2001) identified each country’s most appropriate sub-national level (‘health region’) for exchanging health indicators within the EU and assessed data availability at those levels.
The first phase, ISARE I (1999-2001) identified each country’s most appropriate sub-national level (‘health region’) for exchanging health indicators within the EU and assessed data availability at those levels.
The second phase, ISARE II (2002-2004) tested the feasibility of collecting regional data in each European country. Two collection processes were conducted:
- collection of a limited number of data for all regions of participating countries
- collection of a broader range of data for one region in participating countries.
The two collections contain data source information and elements allowing a judgment about their comparability.
The third phase ISARE III (2005-2007) included new European member states in the earlier ISARE projects. It consolidated the project in an ongoing database and website.
I2SARE started in mid 2008.
Contact: Kevin Balanda
