AVAILABILITY AND QUALITY OF THE DATA USED FOR ESTABLISHING A HEALTH ASSESSMENT OF THE CANTON OF GENEVA - IMPLICATIONS FOR THE MONITORING OFTHE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROBLEMS AND EFFECTS OF HEALTH POLITICS

The global health assessment of the population of the canton of Geneva , based on the WHO's 38 ''Health-for-All'' targets, shown several gaps in the health information system. The quality of the available data I s discussed in regard of various criteria (type of statistics, represe ntativness, frequency of data collection, diffusion, comparability con cern for validation). Two examples are presented: 1.) The incidence of low birthweight shows how a hospital-based statistics indicator can a ccurratery reflect a trend over time, but provide a biased estimation of a risk level. 2.) The evolution of several indicators concerning dr ug consumption shows how important it is to validate these indicators in order to allow an adequate interpretation. Such a validation is sel dom made. The present situation could be improved by a more efficient structure of the canton's health statistics.