Datahub

City in Numbers / Stad in Cijfers is an open dataplatform making data of the city of Antwerp accesible to everyone interested. It holds data on mobility, urban green, demography and bascially anything that you can quantify in the city.

We like it because it holds loads of data on health care and health.

- Geography: Belgium, Flanders
- Themes: built, social, spatial, natural, demography, … 
- Provider: Governmental

Geopunt is a (GIS-)database covering Flanders (Belgium) that geographically visualises a wide range of governmental data. The portal includes layers on, among other, demography, health facilities and services, cadastral data, information on the built and natural environment and it holds historic cartographies.  

We like it because you can use it on your smartphone whilst doing fieldwork, and it holds a plug-in on QGIS and ArcGIS.

Introductory video to the dataplatform

- Geography: Belgium, Flanders
- Themes: built, social, spatial, natural, …
- Provider: Governmental

The VMM Climate Portal is an open access database mapping the consequences of climate change in Flanders. That is: more heat waves, more and more severe storms, drier summers, wetter winters and a rising sea level. The portal includes sets of (health) indicators, maps and general datasets on fluvial and pluvial flooding, heat stress, drought and rising sea levels and their impact on public (health) facilities. The datasets are projected following the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change scenarios for 2030, 2050 and 2100.  

We like it because you can use all localised content on climate change in your GIS work, which is ideal to conceive and operationalise climate change adaptation strategies.

Introductory video on the dataplatform

- Geography: Belgium, Flanders
- Themes: flooding, heat stress, drought, sea level rise
- Provider: Governmental

Gapminder is an independent organisation that facilitates access to public data. They identify common misconceptions and use reliable data to transform our views. Gapminder is well known for their beautiful, interactive, and flexible data visualisation tools. They also offer a large set of short and very didactic videos. We like Gapminder because of their transparent, clear, and extensive description of the data sources and data processing methods. All data can be easily downloaded here.

Gapminder-style video about monitoring progress in sustainable development goals

- Geography: world
- Themes: health, social, demographic, economic, built, environment, sustainable development goals…
- Provider: independent non-profit organisation

This platform gives access to the global burden of disease data and other key health metrics. In addition to the data, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation offers interactive visualisation tools and clear explanations of their data sources and data-related practices. We also like the training materials for policymakers and for researchers in population health and health metrics research. And they give a selection of the data sites they love.

Video about the global burden of disease data

- Geography: world
- Themes: health, burden of disease, health risks and issues
- Provider: independent research centre at the University of Washington

Afrobarometer organises recurring surveys on economic, political and social attitudes among populations in the African continent, for a total of 41 countries so far. Surveys are administered in the form of face-to-face interviews and can be compared across countries. Data is available publicly online. 

We like it because it includes questions on the availability of, and experiences with, healthcare systems.

- Geography: Africa 
- Themes: economics, politics, social 
- Provider: independent private organisation 

The European Social Survey is a biennial survey on living conditions, social structure, public opinion and attitudes in countries in or near Europe, with the aim of facilitating cross-national comparative research. 39 countries have participated in at least one round since the first one in 2002, and 32 countries have participated in the latest round. Data is available for noncommercial use after registration. 

We like it because of its rigorous efforts to ensure that the data is highly reliable for scientific research, such as by achieving a high response rate, and for its questions on social inequalities in health which have been included in some of the rounds as rotating modules.

- Geography: Europe 
- Themes: social, demographic, politics, values, health 
- Provider: intergovernmental consortium

The World Values Survey is a quinquennial survey administered in almost 100. Its aim is to study changes in the beliefs, values and motivations throughout the world. Data is available for noncommercial use after registration. 

We like it because of its high rigour and broad coverage, and the inclusion of questions on confidence in the healthcare system.

- Geography: world
- Themes: social, politics, values
- Provider: independent non-profit organisation