Public Health

Articles, books, statistics, how to cite references, and more information about the multidisciplinary field of public health.

Global Health Statistics and Data

Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) program collects and analyzes data on population, health, HIV, and nutrition through more more that 200 surveys in over 75 countries. (You must register in order to download data.)

  • Note that countries that do not have projects being funded by the U.S. (e.g., Cuba, Russia) are not included

EIU (Economist Intelligence Unit) Healthcare -- This mostly economics information includes U.S. and worldwide data, such as census data, and is interactive.

European Commission, Public Health -- "The EU's role is to complement national policies by helping them achieve shared objectives, generating economies of scale, pooling resources, and helping countries tackle common challenges..."

Global Cancer Observatory (IARC) -- From the International Agency for Research on Cancer, "global cancer statistics to inform cancer control and cancer research. ...The data...are considered the best available in each country worldwide. However, caution must be exercised when interpreting the data, recognizing the current limitations in the quality and coverage of cancer data, particularly in some low- and middle-income countries."

Global Health Policy (Kaiser Foundation) -- For information on U.S. government funding for global health, including trends over time and funding through the appropriations process, use their U.S. Global Health Budget Tracker

Global Health Observatory (WHO) -- Scroll down to the Global Health Observatory's theme pages for data and analyses on global health priorities. Each theme page provides information on a global situation and trends.

Health (OECD Indicators) -- This piece of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) site includes information about health care resources and financing, quality of care, health status, and more. (The library owns some of these -- in the library catalog, search the phrase "health at a glance" as a TITLE; some are online and some are in print.)

HealthMap: Global Disease Alert Map -- Maintained by Harvard and the Children's Hospital of Boston, this interactive map allows you to monitor outbreaks by disease or country. Data are obtained by monitoring news agencies to create an early warning system.

HIV/AIDS Surveillance Database -- Prevalence, incidence, and cases reported, with different ways to search for countries and demographics.

  • In 2023, this database will begin to be phased out.

Humanitarian Data Exchange (HDX) -- Managed by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, this site allows anyone associated with an organization to upload datasets about "humanitarian data." They define this as: "1) data about the context in which a humanitarian crisis is occurring (e.g., baseline/development data, damage assessments, geospatial data); 2) data about the people affected by the crisis and their needs; and 3) data about the response by organisations and people seeking to help those who need assistance."

Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) -- They provide impartial, evidence-based information about global health trends. The site includes publication summaries, policy reports, and info about their research areas which include global burden of disease and health financing.    Main supporters are the Gates Foundation and the state of Washington.

OECD.Stat -- The "Health" link on the left provides data on worldwide health expenditures, healthcare activities (e.g., vaccinations), and more, for OECD countries.

Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) -- PAHO is an international public health agency whose mission is to improve health and living standards in the countries of Central and South America. In addition to statistics and data, the site has information on countries and diseases, publications, and more.

Social Security Programs Throughout the World -- Choose a continent, then a country, and read about their social security program.

Statista -- Country-specific statistics on a wide range of topics, including health. It includes statistics from well-known sources as well as some unique sources.

Statistical Abstracts of the World -- Select a country or region, or a world development indicator, including World View, Poverty and Shared Prosperity, People, Environment, Economy, States and Markets, and Global Links.

Statistical Insight -- Covers statistical publications from the U.S. government, U.S. states and  businesses, international publications such as those from the United Nations and OECD, and others. Note the years covered and more information from the left of this guide.

UNData -- The portal for all UN statistical databases, such as energy, food, and population. There is also a list of countries to choose.

World Bank

  • World Bank Data Bank -- A list of World Bank data sources.
  • World Bank "Visualize Inequality" - This interactive page shows "how gender, geography, economic circumstances, ethnicity, and other inherent characteristics affect access to basic services among children."
    --- Choose a region on the left, then choose what you want to see (on the right)
    --- The World Bank's eLibrary also has books about health financing around the world

World Health Organization - You can choose "Health Topics" or "Countries" to start your search

Worldwide Sources of Data on the Welch Site -- On the left; mouse over for descriptions.