The importance of data analysis in healthcare – 01/28/2024 – Marcia Castro

The financial market would not survive without data analysis. It is what allows the detailed assessment of trends and risks and informs decision making. At stake are investments from companies, nations and individuals.

In healthcare, data analysis also enables the assessment of trends and risks and informs decision-making. However, what is at stake are lives!

Brazil systematically collects data on births, deaths, hospitalizations, vaccinations, and compulsory notification conditions, among others. This is done throughout the national territory. The richness and uniqueness of health databases in Brazil is evident when compared to other countries.

In the United States, for example, there are no nationally unified databases on health problems. There are American states that to date do not have data on deaths from Covid-19 by race and ethnicity.

Data collected in Brazil are the source of many retrospective analyzes that reveal, for example, risk factors, patterns of inequality, seasonal characteristics of illnesses and characteristics of vulnerable groups and areas. These analyzes are very important.

However, prospective analyzes that have the agility and speed of financial market analyzes are also necessary. Here I highlight three aspects.

First, in difficult-to-access areas that do not have a digital connection, data entry is generally delayed. This compromises the rapid detection of problems and, therefore, impairs decision making. It also prevents the promotion of digital health. This is the reality of many riverside and indigenous communities in the Amazon.

Here, public safety action is essential to make the work of health professionals viable. This is one of the difficulties in the Yanomami indigenous land and in areas controlled by drug trafficking.

Second, the wealth of health data collected in Brazil would be expanded if the databases were integrated in such a way that all passages through the health system as well as the illnesses that a person has had throughout their life were connected. In other words, an individual history of illnesses, care and medical procedures, from birth to death.

This individual history could also contain data from the individuals’ locations, such as land cover and use, economic production and climate. In addition to the provision of services in this location, there is also data on health establishments and professionals.

The integration of the databases would allow Brazil to be a pioneer in the use of data science for health, using the largest and most complete database with the main objective of reducing the current burden of diseases, preventing future burdens and optimizing the provision of services in order to minimize inequities.

Third, there is no point in collecting data if it is not quickly analyzed to inform strategic decisions. Agile, integrated and effective analysis of health data is essential to contain outbreaks and save lives.

A platform that allows the use of collected data in an agile, integrated and effective way for decision making is an urgent demand. The idea is simple, but disruptive.

Initially, it would contribute to improving the actions and services being provided. Over time, it would allow the Ministry of Health’s actions to focus on prevention and not on reacting to the problem.

Such a platform would be the keystone to having a Ministry that is primarily a vehicle for health promotion and not a disease administrator. Brazil can (and should) make this a reality.

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