Data Resources

Websites listed below contain health data. 

This list is not meant to be exhaustive; it lists the more commonly used and useful sites. 

• Data Archives
• Health Services and Systems
• International

Data Archives

• Health and Medical Care Archive - Preserves and disseminates data collected by research projects funded by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to health and health care in the United States. Data is included in ICPSR (above).  Using this archive requires registration.

• HIV/AIDS Surveillance Data Base - Data from 219 countries and areas on the prevalence of HIV infection and AIDS cases and deaths.

• National Center for Health Statistics - Data from NCHS, a division of the Center for Disease Control, the United State's preeminent collector of health and vital statistics.

• National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey - Is a series of surveys designed to obtain information on the health and nutritional status of the United States population.

• National Health Care Survey - A family of health care provider surveys, obtaining information about the facilities that supply health care, the services rendered, and the characteristics of the patients served.

• National Health Interview Survey - Is the principal source of information on the health of the civilian noninstitutionalized population of the United States.

• National Vital Statistics System - The official vital statistics (births, deaths, marriages, divorces, fetal deaths) for the United States.

Health Services and Systems

• Integrated Health Interview Series - The Integrated Health Interview Series (IHIS) is a harmonized set of data and documentation based on material originally included in the public use files of the U.S. National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and distributed for free over the Internet. IHIS variables are given consistent codes and have been thoroughly documented to facilitate cross-temporal comparisons.

• Medical Expenditure Panel Survey - Data on the specific health services that Americans use, how frequently they use them, the cost of these services, and how they are paid for, as well as data on the cost, scope, and breadth of private health insurance held by and available to the U.S. population.

International

• Canadian Institute for Health Information - A non-profit institute, the CIHI collects and provides data on Canadian health information.

• Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey- This program follows a cohort of Filipino women who gave birth between May 1, 1983, and April 30, 1984. Originally conceptualized as a study of infant feeding patterns and how feeding decisions interact with social, economic, and environmental factors to affect health, nutritional, demographic, and economic concerns.

• HNPData - The World Banks Health, Nutrition and Population data platform. HNPStats is a one-stop data source for health, nutrition and population indicators from various national and international data sources. It provides direct access to more than 100 indicators, with time series for countries and country group.

• Global Health Observatory - Data repository that contains an extensive list of indicators, which can be selected by theme or through a multi-dimension query functionality. It is the World Health Organization's main health statistics repository.

Image source: BandAid. Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons.  Stethoscope.  CC BY-SA 3.0 Wikimedia Commons.