Transforming Industry

26 27 HEALTHCARE Fighting infection with data As steward of the world’s health data, WHO has a responsibility to make it accessible to all so that no country, city, community or person is left behind. Although the international community had previously imagined the impact of a global pandemic and prepared for it, multilateral action following the outbreak of Covid-19 was hindered by the lack of robust data to inform real-time public health policies and programs. In addition, information about the pandemic was often collected and shared in ways that made a comprehensive perspective nearly impossible. To address data fragmentation and gaps, WHO partnered with private sector organizations to build innovative, sustainable solutions that address pain points in countries and accelerate progress towards the health-related Sustainable Development Goals and WHO’s Triple Billion targets on healthier populations, universal health coverage and health emergencies protection. “The pandemic drove home our need to tackle the systemic issues that keep us from being data-driven so that we can adequately respond not only to the pandemic but also ensure…that every citizen in every country has a chance for a healthier life,” says Dr Samira Asma, WHO Assistant Director- General for the Division of Data, Analytics and Delivery for Impact. “Without data, it is impossible to know what impact we are having on health or how we are tracking towards our goals.” Among the private sector partners who have answered WHO’s call to action are Avanade and Microsoft. Both organizations are actively collaborating with WHO to create the world’s first comprehensive, end-to-end data solution for global health: The World Health Data Hub. The initiative aims to reduce fragmentation, streamline processes, identify and resolve gaps and inequalities, and ensure data is accessible, findable and usable for all stakeholders. Avanade and Microsoft are working closely with WHO to deliver this ambitious, end- to-end solution with a shared commitment to establish health data as a global public good. As the ‘new home of health data’, the Hub will transform data ingestion from multiple sources. It will also provide a secure environment for countries to upload and validate their data while leveraging the latest technology in predictive analytics and data visualization for policymakers, academia and the general public. “Every data point is a person. It’s an event. It’s a place. It tells a story about right now, one of humanity’s greatest challenges,” says Justin Spelhaug, Global Head of Tech for Social Impact at Microsoft Philanthropies. “There’s so much power in being able to unify that data across countries, across demographics, [and] across different parts of WHO and use the analytical tools that we have to understand what it’s trying to tell us.” Read the full case study >