Types of Data Used for Indicators Monitoring Child Health and Well-Being
| Data Collection | Reporting Cycle; Population Measured | Original Source | Strengths | Limitations | Link to Core Indicators and SDGs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CRVS | Annual; National population | National administrative records for births, deaths, and marriages | If registration is complete and the system functions efficiently, the data can be used to produce comparable country level estimates that are accurate and timely. | Costly to set up and maintain; in the absence of good coverage and completeness of CRVS data, may not cover the whole population or it could be incomplete. | Cause of death; inputs into under-5 mortality (3.2.1), mortality in children 5 to 9 years, birth registration (16.9) |
| Population-based surveys | 3 to 5 years; National/subnational | National health surveys, DHS, MICS, censuses, malaria program surveys | Collect data that can't be obtained through other methods; provide population-based measures of coverage and health status; allows for equity analyses and can be disaggregated by a variety of different characteristics to describe the population of interest. | Conducted in-person in most LMICs, making them technically complex, expensive, and time consuming; reliance on respondents' self-report, which can add biases to the results; results reflect the survey reporting period with a 2-to-3-year time lag, so are not necessarily reflective of a country's current situation. | Cause of death; inputs into under-5 mortality (3.2.1), mortality in children 5 to 9 years; service coverage indicators: care seeking for acute respiratory infection and fever; diarrhea treatment; immunization (SDG 3.1); ECDI2030; use of insecticide-treated bed nets; maltreatment, harsh punishment by caregiver; vitamin A supplementation |
| Routine health information systems | Monthly; Facility or service specific | HMIS including DHIS2 and other platforms | Data are continuously available for program monitoring and provide a finer level of detail on the performance of specific health services within health facilities. | Data are only representative of the services provided through a health facility and only for those who seek care, leading to under-reported or biased coverage data. Many systems do not include services from the private sector or community providers. To create CHAT technical advisory group recommended indicators, these data would need to be used with another data source for a population-based denominator. | Administrative records systems (e.g., national health accounts), service records systems (e.g., immunizations administered, HMIS), and individual records systems (e.g., patient medical records), captured in an HMIS |
| Disease/condition registries, death audits | Monthly, annual; Facility, national | Disease/conditions specific registries, clearinghouses, death/disease audits | Captures diseases/conditions that are rarely reported; provides additional sources of data for rare conditions or uncommon events. | If facility based, may reflect only those seeking care in a facility; may not be representative of total population. | Registries (cancer, birth defects), surveillance systems; thalassemia prevalence, neural tube defect prevalence new HIV infections, TB incidence |
Abbreviations: ARI, acute respiratory infection; CHAT, Child Health Accountability Tracking; CRVS; civil registration and vital statistics; DHS, Demographic and Health Survey; ECDI2030, Early Childhood Development Index 2030; HMIS, health management information system; LMICs, low- and middle-income countries; MICS, Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey; SDG, Sustainable Development Goal.