This document discusses health indicators and how they are used to measure and assess community health status. It provides classifications and examples of different types of indicators including: mortality indicators like infant mortality rate; morbidity indicators; disability rates; nutritional status indicators; and more. The characteristics of valid, reliable, and relevant indicators are also covered. Specific indicators discussed in detail include crude death rate, life expectancy, and indicators for measuring malnutrition prevalence.
4. Introduction
Indicators are defined as variables which help to measure changes
HEALTH INDICATORS 4
Measure
health status
Compare
health status
Assess
health care
needs
Allocation of
scarce
resources
Monitoring &
evaluation
Health indicators are required to:
Indicators help to measure the extent to which the objectives and targets of a
programme are being attained
6. Classification of indicators
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INDICATORS
6
1. Mortality indicators
2. Morbidity indicators
3. Disability rates
4. Nutritional status indicators
5. Health care delivery
indicators
6. Utilization rates
7. Indicators of social and
mental health
8. Environmental indicators
9. Socio-economic indicators
10.Health policy indicators
11.Indicators of quality of life
12.Other indicators
7. Mortality
indicators
1. Crude death rate
2. Expectation of life
3. Age-specific death rates
4. Infant mortality rate
5. Child death rate
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8. 6. Under-5 proportionate mortality rate
7. Adult mortality rate
8. Maternal mortality rate
9. Disease-specific mortality rate
10.Proportional mortality rate
11.Case fatality rate
12.Years of potential life lost
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9. Crude death rate
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INDICATORS
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ππ. ππ ππππ‘βπ ππ’ππππ π‘βπ π¦πππ
πππ β π¦πππ ππππ’πππ‘πππ
Γ 1000
Life expectancy at birth
The average number of years that will be lived by those born alive
into a population if the current age-specific mortality rates persist
Age specific death rate
ππ. ππ ππππ‘βπ ππ ππππ πππ ππππ 15 β 20 ππ’ππππ π ππππππππ π¦πππ
πππ β π¦πππ ππππ’πππ‘πππ
Γ 1000
13. Case fatality rate
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13
π‘ππ‘ππ ππ. ππ ππππ‘βπ ππ’π π‘π π ππππ‘πππ’πππ πππ πππ π
π‘ππ‘ππ ππ. ππ πππ ππ ππ’π π‘π π‘βπ π πππ πππ πππ π
Γ 100
Years of potential life lost (YPLL)
For individual, subtract age at death from average life expectancy
For particular cause, subtract the age at death from the standard year, and then
sum the individual YPLL across each cause of death
15. a) Incidence & Prevalence
b) Notification rates
c) Attendance rates at OPD etc
d) Admission, re-admission, discharge rates
e) Duration of stay in hospital
f) Spells or sickness or absence from work/school
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INDICATORS
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17. Event-type indicators
17
i. Number of days of restricted activity
ii. Bed disability days
iii. Work-loss days (or school-loss days) within a specified
period
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18. Person-type indicators
18
i. Limitation of mobility: For example, confined to bed,
confined to the house, special aid in getting around
either inside or outside the house.
ii. Limitation of activity: For example, limitation to perform
the basic activities of daily living (ADL)- e.g., eating,
washing, dressing, going to toilet, moving about, etc;
limitation in major activity, e.g., ability to work at a job,
ability to housework, etc
HEALTH INDICATORS
19. HALE (Health Adjusted Life
Expectancy)
β’ Based on life expectancy at birth
β’ Includes an adjustment for time spent in poor health
β’ Most easily understood as the equivalent number of
years in full health that a newborn can expect to live
based on current rates of ill-health and mortality
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19
20. QALY (Quality Adjusted Life Years)
β’ Based on the number of years of life that would be added
by intervention
β’ Used in assessing the value for money of a medical
intervention
β’ Each year in perfect health is assigned a value of 1.0
down to a value of 0.0 for death
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21. DFLE (Disability-free life
expectancy)
β’ Average number of years an individual is expected to live
free of disability if current pattern of mortality and
disability continue to apply
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22. DALY (Disability Adjusted Life
Years)
β’ DALY = YLL + YLD
β’ years of lost life (YLL) β number of deaths at each age
multiplied by the expected remaining years of life
β’ years lost to disability (YLD) β number of incident cases
due to injury and illness multiplied by the average
duration of the disease and weighting factor
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24. 1. Anthropometric measurements of preschool children,
e.g., Weight and height, mid-arm circumference
2. Heights (and sometimes weights) of children at school
entry
3. Prevalence of low birth weight (less than 2.5 kg)
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25. Health care
delivery
indicators
These indicators reflect the equity of
distribution of health resources in
different parts of the country, and of the
provision of health care
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26. 1. Doctor-population ratio
2. Doctor-nurse ratio
3. Population-bed ratio
4. Population per health/sub-centre
5. Population per trained birth attendant
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27. Utilization rates
β’ Expressed as the proportion of
people in need of a service who
actually receive it in a given period
β’ Utilization rates give some indication
of the care needed by a population
β’ Affected by availability & accessibility
of health services, and attitude of
individuals
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28. Examples of utilization rates
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i. Proportion of infants who are βfully immunizedβ
ii. Proportion of pregnant women who receive antenatal
care, or have their deliveries supervised by SBA
iii. Percentage of the population using the various methods
of family planning.
iv. Bed-occupancy rate
v. Average length of stay
vi. Bed turnover ratio
29. Indicators of
social and
mental health
β’ As valid positive indicators of social
and mental health are scarce, it is
necessary to use indirect measures
β’ viz., indicators of social and mental
pathology
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30. HEALTH
INDICATORS
30
i. Suicide, homicide, other acts of violence and other crime
ii. Road traffic accidents, juvenile delinquency
iii. Alcohol and drug abuse
iv. Suicide, homicide, other acts of violence and other crime
v. Road traffic accidents, juvenile delinquency
31. HEALTH
INDICATORS
31
vi. Alcohol and drug abuse
vii. Smoking
viii. Consumption of tranquillizers
ix. Obesity
x. Family violence, battered-baby and battered-wife
syndromes
xi. Neglected and abandoned youth in the neighbourhood
33. HEALTH
INDICATORS
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They include indicators relating to
β’ Pollution of air and water
β’ Radiation
β’ Solid wastes
β’ Noise
β’ Exposure to toxic substances in food or drink
34. HEALTH
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34
Among these, the most useful indicators are
β’ Percentage of HH with safe water in the home
or within 15 minutes' walking distance from a water
standpoint or protected well
β’ Adequate sanitary facilities in the home
or immediate vicinity
36. HEALTH
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36
These include :
A. Rate of population increase
B. Per capita GNP
C. Level of unemployment
D. Dependency ratio
E. Literacy rates, especially
female literacy rates
F. Family size
G. Housing: the number of
persons per room, and
H. Per capita βcalorieβ
availability.
37. Health policy
indicators
The single most important indicator of
political commitment is βallocation of
adequate resourcesβ
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38. HEALTH
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38
The relevant health policy indicators are:
(i) Proportion of GNP spent on health services
(ii) Proportion of GNP spent on health-related activities
(including water supply and sanitation, housing and
nutrition, community development)
(iii) Proportion of total health resources devoted to primary
health care
39. Indicators of
quality of life
β’ Various attempts have been made to
reach one composite index from a
number of health indicators
β’ Physical quality of life index is one
such index
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40. HEALTH
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40
Physical quality of life index consolidates three indicators
1. Infant mortality
2. Life expectancy at age one
3. Literacy
οΆ For each component, performance is scaled 0 to 100,
where 0 is βworstβ and 100 is βbestβ performance
οΆ Composite index is calculated by averaging the 3
indicators
οΆ Resulting PQLI thus also is scaled 0 to 100
42. HEALTH
INDICATORS
42
1. Population
2. Family formation, families and
households
3. Learning and educational
services
4. Earning activities
5. Distribution of income,
consumption, and accumulation
6. Social security and welfare
services
7. Health services and nutrition
8. Housing and its environment
9. Public order and safety
10. Time use
11. Leisure and culture
12. Social stratification and mobility
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1. Calorie consumption
2. Access to water
3. Life expectancy
4. Deaths due to disease
5. Illiteracy, doctors and nurses
per population
6. Rooms
7. Per person
8. GNP per capita
Those mentioned in βBasic needs performanceβ include
45. SPECIAL INDICATORS SERIES
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1. βHealth for Allβ indicators
2. Millennium Development
Goals β Indicators
3. Sustainable Development
Goals
4. Global Reference list of Core
Health Indicators (2018)
5. Health Index of India (Niti
Aayog)
47. HEALTH
INDICATORS
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1. Health policy indicators:
β’ Political commitment to βhealth
for al!β
β’ Resource allocation
β’ The degree of equity of
distribution of health services
β’ Community involvement
β’ Organizational framework and
managerial process
2. Social and economic
indicators:
β’ Rate of population increase
β’ GNP or GDP
β’ Income distribution
β’ Work conditions
β’ Adult literacy rate
β’ Housing
β’ Food availability
48. HEALTH
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48
3. Indicators for the provision of
health care:
β’ Availability
β’ Accessibility
β’ Utilization
β’ Quality of care
4. Health status indicators:
β’ Low birth weight (percentage)
β’ Nutritional status and
psychosocial development of
children
β’ Infant mortality rate
β’ Child mortality rate
β’ Life expectancy at birth
β’ Maternal mortality rate
β’ Disease specific mortality
β’ Morbidity
β’ Disability prevalence
50. HEALTH
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1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Goal
β’ 4. Prevalence of underweight children under five years of age
β’ 5. Proportion of population below minimum level of dietary energy
consumption
4. Reduce child mortality
Goal
β’ 13. Under-five mortality rate
β’ 14. Infant mortality rate
β’ 15. Proportion of 1-year-old children immunized against measles
5. Improve maternal health
Goal
β’ 16. Maternal mortality ratio
β’ 17. Proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel
51. HEALTH
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6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
Goal
β’ HIV prevalence among young people aged 15 to 24 years
β’ Condom use rate of the contraceptive prevalence rate
β’ Number of children orphaned by HIV AIDS
β’ Prevalence and death rates associated with malaria
β’ Proportion of population in malaria-risk areas using effective malaria
prevention and treatment measures
β’ Prevalence and death rates associated with tuberculosis
β’ Proportion of tuberculosis cases detected and cured under Directly
Observed Treatment, Short-course (DOTS)
52. HEALTH
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7. Ensure environmental sustainability
Goal
β’ Proportion of population using solid fuel
β’ Proportion of population with sustainable access to an improved water
source, urban and rural
β’ Proportion of urban population with access to improved sanitation
8. Develop a global partnership for development
Goal
β’ Proportion of population with access to affordable essential drugs on a
sustainable basis
54. HEALTH
INDICATORS
54
β’ On 25th September 2015, the United Nations General Assembly
adopted the new development agenda βTransforming our world :
the 2030 agenda for sustainable developmentβ.
β’ The post-2015 framework goes beyond the MDGs
β’ It has 17 goals and 169 targets, including one specific (3rd goal)
for health with 13 targets
56. HEALTH
INDICATORS
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β’ The Global Reference List is a standard set of 100 core
indicators
β’ Overall aim is to serve as a normative guidance for the selection
of standard indicators and monitoring
β’ It reflects indicators across the full spectrum of global health
priorities
β’ The list includes a selection of priority indicators relating to 4
domains that includes health status, risk factors, service
coverage and health systems
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Health status indicators
β’ include core indicators including mortality by age, sex and cause
Risk factors indicators
β’ include those relating to nutrition, environmental, behavioural,
injuries and violence
58. HEALTH
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Service coverage indicators
β’ reflect priorities across the spectrum of health services including
reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent,
immunization, HIV, TB, malaria, neglected tropical diseases,
noncommunicable diseases, mental health and substance abuse
Health systems indicators
β’ include indicators of health system inputs and outputs such as
health facility density and distribution, health workforce, health
information and quality and safety of care, health security capacity
60. HEALTH
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β’ Niti Aayog of India recently ranked all states and UTs in an
attempt to measure the nations health performance
β’ The states and UTs are grouped in three categories to ensure
comparisons among similar entities namely
οΆ 21 larger states
οΆ 8 smaller states
οΆ 7 Union Territories
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β’ The health index is a weighted composite index, which is
based on indicators in three domains:
a) Health outcomes (70 per cent)
b) Governance and information (12 percent)
c) Key inputs and processes (18 per cent)
β’ Each domain is assigned a weight based on its importance
β’ Within a domain or sub-domain, the weight has been equally
distributed among the indicators
62. Summary
β’ Health is multidimensional
β’ The subject of health measurement is a complicated one
β’ Our understanding of health cannot be in terms of a single indicator
β’ It must be conceived in terms of a profile, employing many
indicators
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