National Statistics Day | The problem of ‘missing data’

On June 29 we celebrate the 18th National Statistics Day with the theme of using data for decision-making. This day is celebrated to remember and recognise the contributions of Prof P C Mahalanobis, the Father of Statistics in India and the founder of the Indian Statistical Institute.

He played a crucial role in the Second Five-Year Plan. This day is celebrated to make people aware of the role and importance of statistics, and the usage of statistical tools in policy formulation and economic planning in India. Statistics plays a primary role in understanding the efficiency of a nation. In India we started celebrating National Statistics Day in 2007, but globally the United Nations celebrates World Statistics Day every five years on October 20.

The role of quality data in policy formulation is crucial. The quality and accessibility of data from the health sector need to be improved. We often blame the Union government for providing incomplete information, under-reporting or over-reporting in data sets on health, employment, etc. However, the data sets available at the state and local levels are often incomplete, and are not available across the years. This is especially true in the case of health data sets. State governments often publish reports irregularly, which causes discontinuity in data.

If one studies deeper into the district-level data (provided by the state governments) which are available in public domains, several essential data points like maternal mortality rates for recent years are missing. This is especially true in the case of even basic information across time for variables related to the provision of health infrastructure by different tiers of government, vital statistics like different mortality rates (Infant mortality rates, death rates, still-births), fertility rates, and birth rates at district and local levels. These data sets if fully available across the years and across the different tiers of governance, can play an important role in the planning and execution of policies during health emergencies.

Health data in the public domain is limited for districts, panchayats, or municipalities (local government levels). Another issue is that most of the local government data sets are fragmented. The good news is that several states such as Rajasthan, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu have made huge progress in launching digital initiatives in recent years.

Over the last decade, a big market of private players has stepped in to provide data to researchers who are willing to pay. The private health technology sector has advanced significantly due to rapid digital health innovation, driven by increased smartphone and Internet use and supportive government policies. As a result, India's digital healthcare market reached a valuation of approximately Rs 524.97 billion in 2021. Often, they are good substitutes for government data, and may even provide larger data sets. However, the cost of this data is usually very high, which makes data a private good. There’s a need for larger and complete data sets at district, block, and panchayat levels which must be accessible to the public, making data a public good.

A final issue to be highlighted is that often the health data of local governments are maintained in regional languages across states, and are not easily accessible to the public. All these issues cause exclusion in accessing quality data by the public, especially students, researchers, and academicians. Hence, while celebrating National Statistics Day, let us remember that the need of the hour is for policymakers and all three tiers of the government (national, state and local governments) to provide complete and quality data to the citizens of India.

The WHO's Global Strategy on Digital Health 2020-2025 aims to improve health experiences worldwide. In alignment, the Government of India is creating a National Digital Health Ecosystem to support these global digital health advancements, aiming to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. State and local governments can play a crucial role in collaborating with the Union government to ensure the successful implementation of the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission, thereby transforming health data into a public good.

(Megha Jacob is Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Jesus and Mary College, University of Delhi, and Sukanya Das is Professor, Department of Policy and Management Studies and Dean (Research & Partnerships), TERI School of Advanced Studies, New Delhi.)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.