The Indicators of health contribute a part for the health status of a Individual, Group, community or a Country and to assess it with other similar parameters which help us to understand the good and the poorly assessed areas and to allocate more resources to the ill health and also to monitor and re-evaluate either the ill are progressing towards a salutary status and to understand what all measures need to be done. In other words we understand the objectives and targets of a particular programme being implemented towards the attainment of best health goals.
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Indicators are defined as Variables by the World health Organisation which have a Negative range and a certain range in probable observations. This gives an idea about how the expand of a particular programme will go and when these indicators are measured periodically and sequentially over time, they can indicate direction and speed of turn and can help to assess the health indications of different groups of people, communities or countries.
Children Immunization
Characteristics of Indicators :
The Indicators which should be used in an evaluation, should have the following characteristics so that it can be used in a campaign or a survey.
1. An Indicator should be valid and should be able to do the purpose of what it is intended to do
2. An Indicator should be dependable and Objective. This means that when different population carry out research on a similar experiment they should, more or less arrive at a similar inference using the same indicators.
3. An Indicator should be Sensitive and should respond in distinction to the situation concerned.
4. An Indicator should be specific and should respond only to the distinction of the specific situation in concern.
5. An Indicator should be feasible as it should have the functions attached to it which enable data variety involved to it.
6. An Indicator should be relevant which means that it should be able to aid in comprehension the thought in concern. It should either retain the Hypothesis or discard the Hypothesis in concern.
Health is a Multi-Dimensional entity and each entity is a complex phenomenon in itself because the each entity is affected by numerous factors of which Some are Known while many are still Unknown.
Thus health is subjected to the following Factors :
01. Mortality Indicators
02. Morbidity Indicators
03. Disability Rates
04. Nutritional Status Indicators
05. health Care Delivery Indicators
06. Utilization Rates
07. Indicators of social and Metal Health
08. Environmental Indicators
09, Socio-Economic Indicators
10. health course Indicators
11. Indicators of potential of Life
12. Other Indicators
Mortality Indicators and Morbidity Indicators
A. Mortality Indicators
The indicators indicating mortality in a community are :
1. Crude Death Rate
2. Anticipation of life
3. Infant Mortality Rate
4. Child Moratality Rate
5. Under-5 Proportional Mortality Rate
6. Maternal (Puerperal) Mortality Rate
7. Disease specific Mortality
8. Proportional Mortality Rate
1. Crude Death Rate:
It is defined as the number of deaths per 1000 population per year in a given community. Here a decrease in death rate indicates best health conditions in the community indicating an thorough increase in the health status of the given population, which is in fact a goal of medicine.
2. Anticipation of Life:
Life expectancy means the number of years a human being may live, if the age specific and sex specific mortality rates of a population are known. Life expectancy is calculated at birth, at the age of 1 which excludes Infant mortality and at the age of 5 which excludes child mortality. Here also, an increase in mean life expectancy is thought about as an correction in health status.
3. Infant mortality rate:
It is defined as the ratio of number of deaths under 1 year of age to the total number of live births in the same year, commonly expressed as a rate per 1000 live births. This part is able to infer upon the health status of the infants, also deductively of the whole population and the socio-economic conditions under which the infants and also the whole population lives.
4. Child mortality rate:
It is defined as the ratio of number of deaths of children 1 to 4 years of age per 1000 children in the respective age group at the mid-point of the year involved for a particular area or community. This ratio indicates the thorough health status of the early childhood in a given community and excludes Infant mortality.
5. Under 5 proportionate mortality rate:
When both Infant mortality and early childhood mortality need to be considered, then these statistics are used where total number of deaths of children under age 5 per 1000 population is considered. This statistical data helps in inferencing upon high birth rates, high child mortality rates and shorter life expectancy.
6. Maternal (puerperal) mortality rate:
The levels of maternal mortality differ from country to country agreeing to its socio-economic conditions and status representing the proportion of deaths of women in reproductive age which is ordinarily higher in the under developed and developing countries. This data has not gained much importance in terms of statistical analysis and inference.
7. Disease-specific mortality:
This statistical analysis can be computed for mortality on account of specific diseases. As communicable diseases are being extricated, other diseases like Cancers, Cardio-vascular diseases, diabetes have emerged as specific disease problems.
8. Proportional mortality rate:
This statistical analysis takes in account the proportion of all deaths from every abouve mentioned analysis attributed to it.
B. Morbidity Indicators
These indicators indicate the burden of diseases and illhealth in a community but have there own limitations as they represent only the clinical cases and are represented as iceberg theory.
The assessing points for illhealth and diseases in a community are :
1. Incidence and Prevalence
2. Proclamation rates
3. Attendance rates at health services
4. Admission, Re-admission and extraction rates
5. Period of stay in hospital
6. Spells of sickness or absence from work or school.
C. Disability Rates
These fall into two categories which are namely :
a. Event type indicators:
i. number od days of restricted activity
ii. Bed disability days
iii. Work loss days
b. Person type indicators:
i. Limitation of mobility
ii. Limitation of activity
D. Nutritional Status Indicators
These are namely :
Measurements and proportions of pre-school children.
Heights and sometimes weights of school level children
The frequency measurement of babies being born under kind of low birth weight. In India, Low birth weight is thought about when the weight of the new born child is under 2.5 kgs.
E. health Care Delivery Indicators
This indicator shows us the units of health law gift in a given corporal and geographical area which are imparting health services the data of which is grouped under the following categories:
Doctor-population ratio
Doctor-nurse ratio
Population-bed ratio
Population per health/subcentre
Population per original birth attendant
F. Utilization Rates
These measures are used to part the usage of the health services and is measured under the following categories:
Proportion of infants who have received perfect immunization programme.
Proportion of pregnant women who have received perfect ante-natal care
Percentage of population using or adapted to assorted procedures under family planning
Hospital bed occupancy rate
Average distance of stay of a outpatient at Hospital
The Utilization Rates can differ agreeing to every Geographical area, the atmosphere and the habitat and surrounding environment. The list can also be inclusive of more criteria on the basis of factors complex in the development of the area.
G. social Health, thinking Health, Environmental and Socio-economic Indicators of Health
Positive health is a rarity, now-a-days. Thus, many a times symptoms and clinical presentations connected to social and thinking analysis are needed to be used. These indicators indicate the socialism in the given area or community.
We also know that every living entity needs a good environment within accepted limits so that the living entity remains healthy. The same aoolies to Human beings. The factors which sway the social ad thinking health are:
Pollution
Radiation
Solid wastes
Access to safe water etc.
Socio-economic indicators do not directly part health but help in interpretation of the indicators of health
H. health course Indicators
This makes them the most leading data rearrangement of sympoms in a gift society.
I. Other Indicators may comprise :
Indicators for potential of Life
Basic needs indicators
Health for All Indicators
Indicators of condition
