डॉ. बी. आर. अम्बेडकर विश्‍वविद्यालय दिल्ली
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar University Delhi
Established by The Government of NCT of Delhi

Semester and Year Offered: 3^rd Semester, 2^nd Year

Course Coordinator and Team: Samik Chowdhury

Email of course coordinator: samik@aud.ac.in

Pre-requisites: None

Aim:  This course conducted on a workshop mode will introduce students to secondary data and information sources on key aspects of public health, health care and the health sector in general, that are available in public domain. The focus will be on India, although relevant international databases will also be discussed.

Course Outcomes:

• Appreciate the complementary role played by data and information in the understanding of theoretical concepts and issues.
• Develop an ability to distinguish between original and derived, authentic and unreliable sources of information.
• Develop an idea of the statistical system of the country
• Be conversant with sources of health statistics in India and the World
• Be able to prepare a short analytical piece using information and statistical sources familiarised during the workshop

Brief description of modules/ Main modules:

The broad areas in which relevant statistics will be explored are demography, vital statistics, disease classification, health outcomes, disease burden, health infrastructure, health manpower and health financing. Some of the non-health macro and micro indicators with implications for health e.g. GDP, public finances (revenue and expenditure), household income and wealth, consumption expenditure, access to basic services like housing, water, sanitation, drainage etc. will also be discussed.

In addition to the identification of data sources, emphasis will be laid on understanding the concepts, definitions, metadata and methodology in relation to these sources of information.

The course delivered in a workshop mode will also engage with select databases that require user generated data queries to extract relevant information. This is expected to teach students how to run customized data searches.

Data visualization and infographics now occupy a central position in analytical approaches to social science. While infographic techniques are beyond the scope of this course, students will be made aware of portals and web publications that host such infographics, some of which are under the creative commons licence and can therefore be freely downloaded and used.

This course will be conducted on a workshop mode over a period of 6 days. At the end of the workshop students will be asked to prepare a short analytical piece using the data sources discussed during the workshop, and their prior knowledge (Biostatistics-I in semester I) of statistical analysis of secondary data. The topics/research questions may either be (1) indicated by the instructor, or (2) decided by the students themselves, based on their area of interest. However, selection of relevant data sources has to be made by the student. They will be required to submit this piece a week after the workshop and make a presentation, which will be assessed and graded by the instructor.

Assessment Details with weights:

• Submission of a short analytical paper (50%)
• Presentation (40%)
• Class participation (10%)

Reading List:

Key data sources

Census of India - State and national information for India on area, population, urbanization, sex ratio, literacy rate, occupational status, access to basic amenities (housing, water, sanitation), vital statistics (birth rates, death rates, infant mortality rates, maternal mortality rates) for the country and states

National Sample Survey - State and national information for India on household consumption expenditure, morbidity profile, utilisation of health services, private health spending on outpatient and inpatient services, slum surveys.

National Family Health Survey - State and national information for India on fertility, infant and child mortality, the practice of family planning, maternal and child health, reproductive health, nutrition, anaemia, utilization and quality of health and family planning services.

Others - National Mental Health Survey, National Air Quality Index, National Crime Records Bureau, Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey, Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS-India)

Specific topics

Health outcomes and disease burden - International Classification of Diseases (ICD), country profiles of disease burden by Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), state level disease burden by ICMR-PHFI, Medically Certified Causes of Death (MCCD), National Health Profile.

Health infrastructure, human resources - National Health Profile, Rural Health Statistics, Annual report of the Directorate General of Health Services (Union and States)

Health financing - National Health Accounts, Union and State Budgets and Finance Accounts, Study of State Finances (RBI), IRDA Annual Reports for Health Insurance, Annual Reports of MOHFW.

Databases – National and International

National - EPW Research Foundation, Open Government Data (OGD) Platform, OpenBudgetsIndia, Statistical Abstract of India and states.

International - World Development Indicators, World Health Statistics, Global Health Expenditure database. World Population Prospects

Data visualization and Infographics

Our World in Data, Worldometer, Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME)