The world’s inability to monitor and contain the spread of COVID-19 is costing trillions. With such losses, budgets are tightening. Prioritized spending is critical. Funds and hopes are now focused on the arrival of an effective vaccine. But, once again, that won’t be enough.
Accurate, timely data during the coronavirus pandemic guides decisions on limiting transmission and allocating resources. But what are the drawbacks, merits, accessibility, and biases of coronavirus datasets, models and testing? What do we know about uptake of coronavirus data? What can we learn from changing demand for data?
This second blog in the series summarizes the existing data on sex-disaggregated COVID-19 cases and deaths from Global Health 50/50 and asks how complete our picture is when compared to all reported cases and deaths.
We know that the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting men and women differently and that gender roles shape pandemic responses. Now, thanks volunteer efforts via Global Health 50/50, new data are revealing the true impact of COVID-19 on men and women around the world.
As data-driven decision making is critical during the pandemic, ODW updated its special edition of What’s Being Said on COVID-19 (organized by data value chain stages) and also partnered with Data2X to review the gender impact of the pandemic. A virtual ODIN training session for Uzbekistan looked at country-specific ways to improve open data, and a number of new sustainable development data reports appeared.
A review of international databases finds that the coronavirus pandemic is affecting men and women very differently and may exacerbate gender inequalities without a concerted effort to fill crucial gender data gaps.
With data availability and openness being so important during the pandemic, ODW regularly updates its special edition of What’s Being Said on COVID-19. In addition, ODW, the UN Statistics Division and GPSDD are working on a new website to support NSO data continuity by sharing guidance, actions, tools, and best practices.
In anticipation of the research results later this year for the 2020 Open Data Inventory (ODIN), the ODIN website will get major updates based on a survey of user experiences and needs. View first round feedback and add your own.
Countries and citizens benefit greatly from opening official data for public use. But as governments collect more microdata about their citizens, how can data be released in a way that balances the right to public information with the right to privacy?
The month kicked off with the 51st session of the UN Statistical Commission and ODW was also in Dubai to present the Open Data Inventory to the FCSA. But the unprecedented need for reliable data about the COVID-19 pandemic saw ODW, in its monitoring role at the intersection of open data and official statistics, devote particular attention to regular updates of a special edition of What’s Being Said on COVID-19 data resources.