European Health Examination Survey General description 1 st EHES Training Seminar, February 2010, Rome

What is a health examination survey (HES)? A population survey, which includes both a questionnaire and physical measurements Based on a random sample of the general population For many health indicators, the most reliable data source Complementary to HIS and administrative registers

What is EHES? Standardized national HESs in the adult population of the EEA countries Complementary to EHIS Being set up under EUs Health Programme Based on recommendations of the FEHES Project ( )

Why EHES? To collect comparable, high quality data on health of the European adult population To provide reliable and comparable data for planning and evaluation of health policies and health promotion activities, and research Within the countries At European level

Setting up EHES Phase IPhase II Setting up EHES RC Manual for all EU and EEA/EFTA countries Training programme Planning and preparing a national HES, including a pilot survey, in 14 countries Full-size HES in the pilot countries Planning, preparing and conducting a national HES in other countries Gradual development to a sustainable EHES system Funding through a Tender and Joint Action for 2 years in

The EHES Reference Centre (EHES RC) Established jointly by National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), Helsinki, Finland Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS), Rome, Italy Statistics Norway (SSB), Oslo, Norway

Tasks for EHES Reference Centre EHES manuals The EHES Manual National Manuals Training programme Training seminars Training materials Quality control Coordination of external quality control Preparation of guidelines for internal quality control Blood sample handling and storage protocols Development of principles and rules for data sharing Development of data transfer and management system Development of reporting system Basic reports Evaluation of the pilot surveys Final conference

Personnel Kari Kuulasmaa Hanna Tolonen Sanna Ahonen Johan Heldal Susie Cooper Susanna Conti Mark Kanieff Johanna Mäki-Opas Jari Kirsilä Ari Haukijärvi Jouko Sundvall Päivikki Koponen Georg Alfthan THL, FinlandISS, Italy SSB, Norway

Joint Action for piloting EHES Supports the national activities needed to build the capacity for organizing HES in 14 countries

Tasks of the Joint Action Preparation of national HES plans Preparation of sampling descriptions Completing field work for the pilot Transferring the pilot HES data to the EHES RC Quality assessment of the pilot HES data Preparation of the national dissemination and the reporting plan