Integrating Equity into Health Information Systems: A Human Rights Approach to Health and Information

One of the most fundamental human rights is the assumption that each person matters, and everyone deserves to be treated with dignity—this is the tenet from which all other human rights fl ow. Another is that those who are most vulnerable deserve special protection. However, in many developing countries, vast numbers of children are born but never counted, and their health and welfare throughout their lives remains unknown. And because single-mean measures of population health mask inequalities among the best-off and worst-off, the health of vulnerable populations is not effectively documented and acknowledged. Health information systems can play an important role in supporting these rights by documenting and tracking health and health inequities, and by creating a platform for action and accountability. A human rights approach to health information systems also supports effective health development. To effectively improve population health, governments and communities need access to socioeconomically disaggregated population health data. Because the relationship between such information and human rights has received little attention, the two areas of health information systems and human rights have done little to support each other. The Health Metrics Network