6.4. Adaptive harmonization of monitoring efforts, training and use of monitoring data to inform policy for health equity
Strengthening local and institutional capacities, and aligning local and national monitoring efforts with global standards such as the Sustainable Development Goals, is crucial for maintaining effective equity monitoring systems. It is also vital to ensure that monitoring outputs are directly tied to policy actions and decision-making at all levels, to enable informed interventions. This area focuses on building skills, tools and adaptive mechanisms that enable continuous learning, harmonization of data and monitoring strategies, and responsiveness to emerging health equity challenges across various territorial levels.
Examples from SIMASHE
Identification and integration of social determinants of health indicators in Cauca, Colombia: The local government in Cauca has shared valuable lessons from its efforts to identify and integrate health-related indicators at both the national and local levels. These lessons follow the PAHO Regional Meeting on Monitoring Social Determinants of Health. Data from various sectors and institutions – such as health, the National Statistical Office, and research initiatives – has been consolidated for analysis. The results are visualized across different dimensions, including education, housing and multidimensional poverty, aligning with international standards. Collaboration with academic institutions has been essential in transforming data into actionable insights.
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Examples from related work and initiatives
The G20 acknowledges the critical importance of investing in the social determinants of health equity: WHO, with the G20 Joint Finance and Health Task Force, developed a policy note on core social determinants of health equity indicators for the Task Force’s “Framework for Economic Vulnerabilities and Risks” to evaluate health, social and economic risks related to pandemics. Drawn from the WHO “Operational Framework for Monitoring the Social Determinants of Health Equity”, four indicators were recognized for their profound impact on health equity:
- proportion of population covered by at least one social protection benefit (%)
- proportion of urban population living in slums, informal settlements or inadequate housing (%)
- proportion of population using safely managed sanitation services (%)
- net school enrolment rate at pre-primary, primary, secondary and tertiary levels (%).
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Key intervention activities
SIMASHE is continuously seeking examples related to this area of work, including activities for:
- creating and delivering training sessions for local stakeholders on SDH and health equity monitoring.
- providing community groups with tools and training to conduct participatory monitoring of local SDH.
- creating intersectoral systems to collect SDH data into unified local repositories.
- real-time assessment and predictive analysis of local health inequity risks.
- leveraging partnerships and implementing innovative financing mechanisms for creating and maintaining community-based SDH monitoring systems.
- continually improving service delivery models based on monitoring and evaluation findings, innovative pilot programmes and community feedback.