About this Site

What is Global Health Facts?

Global Health Facts, a project of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, provides free, up-to-date and easy-to-access data by country on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other key health and socio-economic indicators. The data are displayed in tables, charts, and color-coded maps and can be downloaded for custom analyses.

What is the Kaiser Family Foundation?

The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation is a non-profit, private operating foundation focusing on the major health care issues facing the nation. The Foundation is an independent voice and source of facts and analysis for policymakers, the media, the health care community, and the general public. The Foundation is not associated with Kaiser Permanente or Kaiser Industries.

What is the data source for Global Health Facts?

Data presented on Global Health Facts are obtained from a variety of public and private sources, including original Kaiser Family Foundation reports.

In an effort to provide data that are consistent across countries, data are primarily obtained from global or cross-national entities, vs. countries specifically, and therefore may not represent the most recent year available at the country level.

How often are data updated on Global Health Facts? Can I sign up for an alert?

The site will be updated as new data become available, and additional indicators will be added over time.

Sign upfor free weekly e-mail alerts informing you of new data and information on Global Health Facts. Also Sign upfor the Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report.

How do I download the data?

The data found on this Web site can be downloaded as tab-delimited text files. Tab-delimited files can be imported by most database and spreadsheet applications, including Microsoft Excel.

If you have trouble downloading a file, try right-clicking the link then selecting "Save Link As..." or "Save Target As...". After saving one of the tab-delimited files, you can use your spreadsheet's "open" or "import" function to view it. Some spreadsheet programs won't list these files because they don't recognize the filenames. Make sure you make your program display "All files" or "Files of all types" when trying to locate the files on your hard drive.

How do I cite the data?

Most of the information available on Global Health Facts is public information and may be reproduced for free with appropriate citation.

Please cite data as follows: "The Kaiser Family Foundation, Global Health Facts. Data Source:…." The data source may be cited using the reference that appears on this Web site under "Source."

Example: The Kaiser Family Foundation, Global Health Facts. Data Source: Global & Regional Data: UNAIDS, AIDS Epidemic Update, December 2005.

Can I link to Global Health Facts from my Web site?

View the options to link to Global Health Facts

What are Customized Data Sheets?

Using the simple 3-step tool on Global Health Facts, you can create your own data sheet by selecting an unlimited number of indicators from the site (currently, more than 100) for up to five countries at a time.

The output, your customized data sheet, can be viewed online, shared electronically, exported to an Excel table or converted into a printer-friendly PDF that can be distributed at meetings and briefings.

How could I use Customized Data Sheets?

Customized data sheets can be used to create a health profile for a particular country, to compare countries across indicators, or to provide a snapshot of an emerging global health issue, for example. Below are some sample data sheets. These samples may not reflect the most recent data contained on the site:

• Access to clean water is one of the world's most challenging health issues. To get a snapshot of the basic health problems faced by countries with low percentages of people with access to water as well as any variations across countries, you could compare neighboring countries on access to water and other related indicators.
• The past few years have witnessed growing attention to and concern about health care workforce shortages in low and middle income countries, and the potential impact of such shortages on health access and outcomes. To begin to investigate this, you could look at indicators of health care workforce capacity in several countries compared to measures of mortality, as well as measures of the economy.
• Sometimes it is helpful to have a snapshot of a particular country. For example, you could look at the demographic profile of Mexico, the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Kenya, or health expenditures and economic indicators in Haiti.

Contact Information

If you have questions about data use or if your organization would like to link to Global Health Facts please contact us.