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Source file

WHO Health Data Pipeline

How we process Global Health Observatory data on adult obesity and premature deaths from noncommunicable diseases.

Methodology brief

What this file explains

This source file shows how WHO Health Data Pipeline data moves from public release to published WorldStats pages: collection, validation, transformation, coverage limits, and known caveats.

  1. 01 Source
  2. 02 Ingest
  3. 03 Validate
  4. 04 Publish
01

Overview

The WHO Global Health Observatory (GHO) provides health statistics for 194 WHO member states. WorldStats uses GHO data for adult obesity prevalence and for the probability of dying between ages 30 and 70 from noncommunicable diseases. Life expectancy and health expenditure come from the World Bank.

02

Data Ingestion

Data is fetched via the GHO OData API using indicator codes. Like the World Bank pipeline, we request all available years and countries and store every country-year value. Health indicators are mapped to our standardized indicator system and combined with World Bank data on country profile pages.

03

Standardization

WHO and World Bank sometimes report overlapping indicators (e.g., life expectancy). In these cases, we use the single source named in our indicator definition — life expectancy, for example, comes from the World Bank — and each indicator page names its source.

04

Known Limitations

WHO data relies on national reporting systems which vary in quality and timeliness. Some countries report health data with significant delays. Disease prevalence data may be modeled rather than directly measured for countries with limited surveillance systems.