International Statistical Reporting on Public Health
The Public Health Agency of Sweden is responsible for reporting a wide range of statistics on Sweden's public health to several international organisations. The data comes partly from the agency's own sources and partly from other Swedish authorities that the Public Health Agency coordinates reporting for.
The statistics are usually presented at an aggregated level and reporting is mostly done annually. The data is published either in report form or made available in databases at the receiving organisations' external websites.
This international reporting provides an important basis for following up on global and European public health policy goals and is therefore of great importance for both national and international public health work.
Within the broad field of public health, the agency regularly reports statistics to three major international actors:
- OECD – Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
- WHO – World Health Organisation
- EUROSTAT – European Union's Statistical Office
In addition, a large number of regular statistical reports are made in specific areas, such as drugs, vaccinations, and infection control.
International actors
The Public Health Agency of Sweden is the national contact point and coordinates Sweden's reporting of health data to the OECD's annual follow-up, Health Data Questionnaire. The reporting includes, in addition to the Public Health Agency's own data, health indicators from the National Board of Health and Welfare, the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR), the Swedish Social Insurance Agency, the Swedish Transport Administration/Transport Agency, Statistics Sweden (SCB), the Swedish Council for Information on Alcohol and Other Drugs (CAN), and Swedish Insurance.
The reporting includes indicators on, among other things, health status, healthcare resources, healthcare personnel, quality indicators, the pharmaceutical market, and resources and utilisation of long-term care.
This data forms the basis for the OECD's annual report, Health at a Glance, which each year has a different thematic focus. Every other year, the OECD also produces a country-specific health profile (Country Health Profile) within the framework of the State of Health in the EU. All reported data is also made available in the OECD's database.
The Public Health Agency of Sweden is the national contact point and coordinates Sweden's reporting of health data to the WHO's Health for All survey. Data is collected from several Swedish authorities, including the National Board of Health and Welfare, Statistics Sweden (SCB), the Public Health Agency, the Swedish Work Environment Authority, the Swedish Food Agency, and the Swedish Social Insurance Agency.
The reporting includes indicators in a wide range of public health-related areas, including:
- Demographics and socio-economic conditions
- Mortality and morbidity
- Disabilities and hospital discharges
- Lifestyle factors and environment
- Healthcare consumption and healthcare costs
- Maternal and child health
The reported data is published in the WHO's Health for All database, where it is freely available for comparisons between member countries.
Eurostat administers a joint survey for Eurostat, OECD, and WHO with the aim of collecting internationally comparable statistics on the healthcare systems of member countries. The Public Health Agency of Sweden is the national contact point and coordinates the reporting of register-based statistics from the Public Health Agency, the National Board of Health and Welfare, the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR), the Swedish Social Insurance Agency, and the Swedish Higher Education Authority (UKÄ). In total, the reporting covers more than 1,200 indicators.
The statistics include, among other things:
- Resources in healthcare, for example, the number of doctors and dentists
- Healthcare personnel in different professions
- Activities within healthcare, such as vaccinations
- Infrastructure and healthcare resources, for example, the number of hospitals and care places
The reported data is used as a basis for the OECD's annual report, Health at a Glance, and the country-specific Country Health Profiles, which are published every other year within the framework of the State of Health in the EU. The statistics are also made available in Eurostat's database.
The Public Health Agency of Sweden's international statistical reporting comprises 39 recurring reports that form the basis for monitoring public health policy goals linked to international conventions and resolutions.
Reports on Antibiotics
- European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network (EARS-Net), ECDC
- European Surveillance of Antimicrobial Consumption Network (ESAC-Net) Reporting, ECDC
- Global Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System (GLASS), WHO EURO
- Healthcare-associated Infections Surveillance Network HAI-Net, ECDC
Reports on Children and Youth Health
- The Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (COSI), WHO EURO
- Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC), WHO EURO
Reports on Physical Activity
- The Council Recommendation on promoting Health-Enhancing Physical Activity (HEPA) across sectors, WHO EURO
Reports on Health and Medical Care Systems
- Global Survey on Assessment of National Capacity for the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases, WHO EURO
- Health Data Questionnaire (HDQ), OECD
- Joint Questionnaire on Non-Monetary Health Care Statistics (JQNMHCS), Eurostat, WHO, OECD
Reports on Healthy Ageing
- Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing (MIPAA), UNECE
- UN Decade of Healthy Ageing 2021–2030, WHO
Reports on Microbiology and Epidemiology
- Annual progress report (eAPR) on polio elimination, WHO, RCC
- Annual status update (ASU) on measles and rubella elimination, WHO, RVC
- Dublin Declaration/UNAIDS Global AIDS Monitoring (GAM), ECDC
- ECDC Hepatitis B/C Monitoring, ECDC
- Microbiological data for measles and rubella, WHO EURO, ECDC
- Microbiological data for polio and enterovirus, WHO EURO
- Microbiological data for rotavirus, EuroRotaNet
- Reporting of infectious diseases/agents to The European Surveillance System (TESSy), ECDC
- Seasonal report Influenza in Sweden, WHO
- Hepatitis A typing data, HAVNet
- Outbreaks of measles and rubella, WHO EURO
Reports on Narcotics
- Annual Report Questionnaire regarding narcotics reporting, UNODC
- Narcotics reporting to European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA), EUDA
- Questionnaire for the WHO Expert Committee on Drug Dependence (ECDD), WHO (ECDD)
- The European Union Early Warning System on new Psychoactive Substances, EUDA
Reports on Sweden's Public Health Development
- European Health Interview Survey (EHIS), Eurostat
- Health for All (HFA), WHO
- Nordic Medico-Statistical Committee (NOMESCO), NOMESCO (via the National Board of Health and Welfare)
- Follow-up Agenda 2030, UN (via Statistics Sweden SCB)
- Follow-up of perceived discrimination, OHCHR
Reports on Infection Control and Preparedness
- International Health Regulations (IHR) – State Party Annual Report (SPAR), WHO
- Health threats according to the International Health Regulations in the EU Article 7, ECDC
- WHO Covid-19 vaccination, WHO
- WHO/UNICEF electronic Joint Reporting Form on Immunization (eJRF), WHO, UNICEF
Reports on Tobacco
- Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products, WHO
- Reporting on implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), WHO
- WHO Report on the global tobacco epidemic, WHO