Philippines Health Sector consults ADP on Data Sharing (Manila, 4 December 2012)

Led by the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD), a small meeting composed of representatives from government data producing agencies and user institutions took place to start the discussions towards the formulation of policies on data sharing in the health sector. Also invited to the meeting was the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) which apprised the group of the existing policies adopted by the Philippine Statistical System relating to data documentation and archiving. Among the concerns raised were inventories, storage, access, documentation, and coordination. Through the recommendation of WHO Western Pacific Regional Office, the ADP was requested to shed light on available tools and standards. The participants were unanimous in their praises for the NADA. Representatives from the Food and Nutrition Research Institute confirmed the use of the IHSN Toolkit in documenting the National Nutrition Survey. The user institutions aired their hope that the IHSN tools be adopted by more agencies. The data producing agencies, on the other, expressed intent to present the tools to their respective agencies.