ECHIM Final Report

In short, the shortlist would focus on major public health problems and the best chances
for improvement. Thus, the focus would be on key issues of public health policy.
The ECHI shortlist was subsequently divided into three sections, based on data
availability and development status, as judged by Eurostat:
1. readily available and reasonably comparable (46 indicators)
2. partly available and/or sizeable comparability problems (31 indicators)
3. not available, need for development (5 indicators)
An annex was attached to these three sections that included a list of indicators that had
been proposed by projects and Working Parties shortly after the selection of the ECHI
shortlist indicators. This annex list was not taken up in follow-up actions.
It was acknowledged that the distinction between the sections was not always clearcut,
and that one could also speak of a “gradient” of data availability and of degrees of
development.
In this manner, the data for the shortlist indicators would primarily serve the purpose
of providing an overview of the entire area of public health, including health status and
health determinants as well as aspects of health promotion, health care provision and
health care quality. At the same time, the shortlist would indicate areas for innovation
and development, based on unmet data needs in these areas. The shortlist was adopted
by DG SANCO as a basic structure in the development of various actions. Almost the
entire section 1 was implemented using data from the DG SANCO website. More
recently, EUPHIX website was used to present data related to 37 shortlist indicators. All
of this information is also accessible via the EU Health Portal.
3.2. Update process of the ECHI shortlist
When the shortlist was established, it was recognised that it would still need to be updated
at regular intervals. These updates would imply both improvements of existing indicators,
possible additions of new ones and perhaps even deletions. The need for modifications
would be determined by new information needs driven by political priorities, as well as
new scientific insights and improved ways of collecting information.
During 2004–2007, several Member States have started using the ECHI shortlist as
a frame of data collection in general public health monitoring schemes (e.g. Cyprus,
Spain, Germany, the Netherlands). From this perspective, the need has been expressed
to keep the shortlist stable. Nevertheless, it was decided in ECHIM that procedures will
be put in place to conduct an update round by 2008.
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