Bi-national Workshop "An Ethnic Approach to Sources of Health Data: Experiences in the Area of the Mapuche People of Argentina and Chile, Recommendations for Their Future Development in the Context of the Americas"

Advances in the areas of censuses and surveys have been seen in Latin America. However, in the specific case of ethnic groups, few advances have been observed in the field of health information, particularly in what relates to registries. Being that these are of interest to both ECLAC and the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), the work that is being developed by the AD/GE and HDM/HA units of PAHO has taken shape as a joint activity with CELADE, which has a long tradition in demographic development. This work deals with a strategy that aims to foster the collection of information that will enable monitoring of the processes of decreasing inequalities in health according to ethnic origin. The present workshop falls within this framework. The general objective of the workshop is to systematize experiences at the local level and establish a series of recommendations for the incorporation of an ethnic variable in health information systems (redesign of collection instruments; awareness-raising and training for personnel of sectorial offices and within the population; data capture strategies; entry, consistency, diffusion and use of information), which will be implemented in the second phase of the project.