Population Health Monitoring : Climbing the Information Pyramid

This timely volume presents an in-depth tour of population health monitoring—what it is, what it does, and why it has become increasingly important to health information systems across Europe. Introductory chapters ground readers in the structures of health information systems, and the main theoretical and conceptual models of population health monitoring. From there, contributors offer tools and guidelines for optimum monitoring, including best practices for gathering and contextualizing data and for disseminating findings, to benefit the people most affected by the information. And an extended example follows the step-by-step processes of population health monitoring through a study of health inequalities, from data collection to policy recommendations. Included in the coverage: ·         Structuring health information: frameworks, models, and indicators ·         Analysis:contextualization of process and content ·         Knowledge translation: key concepts, terms, and activities ·         Health inequality monitoring: a practical application of population health monitoring ·         Relating population health monitoring to other types of health assessments ·         Population health monitoring: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats A robust guide with international implications for an emerging field, Population Health Monitoring is a salient reference for public health experts working in the field of health information as well as post-graduate public health students and public health policymakers.      "In this comprehensive and easy to read volume, Verschuuren and van Oers, accompanied byother specialists in the field, present a fresh and thoroughly researched contribution on the discipline of population health monitoring. They critically analyse and describe the phases, functions and approaches to population health monitoring but far more importantly, the discipline is positioned within the wider domains of public health, health policy and health systems. The book is definitely highly recommended reading for students of public health and health services management but is also a useful refresher course for public health practitioners."Natasha Azzopardi Muscat, President, European Public Health AssociationChapter 7 of this book is available open access under a CC BY 3.0 IGO license at link.springer.comChapter 8 of this book is available open access under a CC BY 3.0 IGO license at link.springer.com