Open health data on the European Data Portal
Publication Date/Time
2019-01-23T09:00:00+00:00
Country
Europe
Discover Health-related datasets and use cases from different European
countries
INSIGHTS INTO A HIGH VALUE DATA DOMAIN 

Health is defined by the World Health Organisation
[https://www.who.int/] as a state of complete physical, mental and
social well-being that goes beyond the absence of disease or
infirmity. A person's health is dependent on variables such as their
surrounding environment, sleeping pattern, diet, work-life balance and
level of physical activity. By neglecting to take care of one's health
through lack of sleep, an imbalanced diet or lack of physical
activity, people are at risk for a weaker immune system meaning they
are more vulnerable to getting ill and are more susceptible to mental
health problems and depression. As such, there has been continuous
research on the various factors that surround health.

For more detail on this topic, look at the European Data Portal's
(EDP) datasets [/data/en/group/health] and use cases
[/en/using-data/use-cases?title=&body_value=&field_country_value=All&field_region_value=All&field_sector_value=Health&field_type_of_use_case_value=All]
section for examples of reports and services from different European
countries that exemplify the value of open data and aim to address the
current and future challenges in health.

IMPACT OF HEALTH DATA

The EDP offers overs 7,000 datasets related to health. Health covers a
wide range of topics, ranging from air pollution
[/data/en/group/health?q=air+pollution&sort=metadata_modified+desc],
ambulance
[/data/en/group/health?q=ambulance&sort=metadata_modified+desc] usage,
smoking [/data/en/group/health?q=smoking&sort=metadata_modified+desc]
and accidents
[/data/en/group/health?q=accidents&sort=metadata_modified+desc]. For
example, in relation to air pollution the EDP has air quality report
from different air stations in Abbatucci, France
[/data/en/dataset/donnees-de-la-qualite-de-lair-station-abbatucci],
maps that show the interpolated air quality within Belgium
[/data/en/dataset/http-data-gov-be-dataset-ngi-24c018e0-e9bd-4315-8e64-b9dbe724710c]and
reports on CO2 pollutant analysis in cities such as Lecce
[/data/en/dataset/analisi-inquinante-co2-citt-lecce] in Italy. These
datasets aim to increase awareness of different air quality levels
within the country and is open for re-use. This means that interested
parties can exploit the data and create services, for example, to
promote awareness and protect people's health.

The datasets on EDP are provided by national open data portal's that
harvest data from different institutions within their country, such as
federal, regional and local portals; national, regional and local
government bodies or research institutions.

OPEN DATA USES CASES IN HEALTH

The EDP has twenty-five examples of open data use cases focusing on
Health.

One example is _HybridStat_
[/sites/default/files/use-cases/use_case_greece_-_hybridstat.pdf], a
service that originated in Greece. _HybrdidStat_ is a small-medium
size enterprise in Athens that aims to support life-scientists in
answering medical or biological questions that require bio-informatics
and bio-statistical analyses. The service collects open data from
openly available databases, such as Disgnet
[http://www.disgenet.org/web/DisGeNET/menu;jsessionid=1ngtkt6ltttztppqefjpo61n2],
and from biomedical literature. _HybridStat_ then combines open data
on gene-disease associations with the outcome of their own analyses on
raw DNA sequencing.

Another example is _HappyCow_
[/sites/default/files/use-cases/global_-_happycow.pdf], an application
and website that originated in the United States of America. The
service allows users to find vegetarian, vegan and local plant-based
restaurants and cafés around the world and includes search filters
for types of stores and types of food ranging from American, Spanish,
Indian and Thai. _HappyCow_ collects geodata and data on global vegan
and vegetarian establishments.

To gain more information about Health data, explore the European Data
Portal. [/data/en/group/agriculture-fisheries-forestry-and-food]
