INDICATORS

HUNGARY
Data availability by Country Report: 66% of ECHI shortlist indicators are available
in international data sources. The availability is quite equal for all ECHI shortlist
sections except for Demographic and Socio-Economic factors, in which data for almost
all indicators are available.
Data availability by ECHIM Survey: 67% of ES indicators are available at the national
level. The availability is generally best for Health Status indicators; for most of them
there are both register and HIS data available. Most available Health Care data are from
registers, while Health Determinants data are mostly derived from HIS. Instead, there
have not been national HES in Hungary. Most missing indicators are particularly those
based on HES, and also some control-type indicator data are missing.
Data availability in European context: Data availability in Hungary is below the
European average, particularly concerning ES. Still, the overall situation is very typical
in European context: extensive registers and HIS, but no HES. The poor availability of
control-type indicator data is the most important single reason for the below-average
availability figures.
Overall situation of data sources: The most important health data sources and their
respective remits are the Central Statistical Office (CSO; www.ksh.hu, demography
and mortality), National Sick Fund (OEP, www.oep.hu, primary care, outpatient
and inpatient service data), National Centre for Epidemiology (OEK, www.oek.hu,
infectious diseases), National Cancer Institute (www.oncol.hu, cancer register), National
Centre for Health Care Audit and Inspection (OSZMK; www.oszmk.hu, National
Health Survey 2000 & 2003) and the University of Debrecen; www.unideb.hu, general
practitioners’ morbidity sentinel station data on chronic diseases). Aggregated data from
most of the institutions are reported to and published by the CSO. The cooperation
between the institutions is on an ad hoc basis – there is no coordinative function in
place. International reporting goes via the CSO and the National Institute for Strategic
Health Research (ESKI, www.eski.hu).
Health reporting: OSZMK publishes various reports online, but in Hungarian only.
The National Public Health Update is the only one in English.
Main problems: Public health and health monitoring areas are not in the focus of
health policy. The developments of recent years (e.g. inclusion of health surveys
in the monitoring system, regular health reporting, coordination of the activities of
the different institutions) slowed down, and the necessary legal, political and finacial
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