The Ministry of Health (MOH) of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and IHME have partnered to develop a world-class integrated surveillance and burden of disease monitoring system. This system is unique in the region and can be a model for other countries. Through this collaboration, IHME and the MOH designed and implemented a baseline household survey, the Saudi Health Interview Survey, to gather data related to select burden of disease and risk factors at the national level.
As a first step toward building this integrated surveillance and disease burden monitoring system, IHME and the MOH have compiled all available data related to disease burden in the Kingdom. IHME used these data to develop a burden of disease visualization tool to allow health professionals in KSA to easily identify deaths and disability caused by diseases and risk factors.
Second, IHME and the MOH have developed a Saudi Health Interview Census. The census will collect local data on socio-demographic characteristics, health outcomes, risk factors, and health facility access and satisfaction. IHME and the MOH plan to launch the Saudi Health Interview Census by 2016 and interview and collect data from every household in the Kingdom.
The partnership between IHME and the MOH is building the knowledge base about the Kingdom’s health challenges and sparking important conversations about strategies for addressing them. Together, the two organizations are documenting the Kingdom’s experience, challenges, and opportunities in a number of publications in peer-reviewed journals. In addition to expanding scientific understanding of disease burden in KSA, MOH staff are receiving valuable training through the IHME-MOH partnership. IHME trained over 200 MOH staff members from all regions of the Kingdom on the Saudi Health Interview Census. In addition, IHME and the MOH plan to conduct a Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Technical Training Workshop in Riyadh and establish a training program at IHME that will host select Saudi health professionals to be trained on GBD, epidemiology, and statistics.
Read more about the partnership between IHME and the MOH here.