BACKGROUND :

In the era of social media, big data, and fake news, information abounds but cannot always be trusted. How can decision makers make sense of the vast quantities of health data that are generated from multiple sources and by many actors, both public and private, and by country and external parties? The undoubted improvements in data availability and quality in many countries have been accompanied by vast increases in data that are poorly collected, unreliable, biased and untrustworthy. The session will explore what decision makers need to know to gain a better understanding of the methods available for gathering, organizing and disseminating high quality data that can inform policy and help manage health systems. What are the key data sources needed to generate fit for purpose health data and what are good practices in terms of methods, information technologies, ethics, policy, epidemiology, health economics, demography, statistics, geography and qualitative approaches for describing population health. As background materials, the newly published Palgrave Handbook on Global Health Data Methods for Policy and Practice will be introduced.