One challenging obstacle in global health progress is that it needs more accurate monitoring and recording methods for collecting health data. International standards often don't accurately measure health statistics in different regions. Another issue to global monitoring is, some regions don't recognize certain diseases like the psychological diseases,(i.e. ADHD and chronic fatigue syndrome). Cultural and societal norms make developing global monitoring standards extremely difficult.
In 2002 an interesting approach to monitoring and assessing population health was developed in China. The goal of the study was to develop an indicator list to effectively and efficiently monitor and assess reproductive health through urban and rural China. An issue health officials had been facing was that the international standard indicator list, created by the WHO, wasn't effectively working. The study approach to make a more effective monitoring method involved two groups, nominal and delphi. The nominal group was made up of expert grassroots reproductive health officials and providers from the local and provincial. The delphi group was made up of national and international experts on reproductive health. In the first step of development the nominal groups met and created a list of what indicators were most important to their region. The first step led to a list of more than a hundred indicators to help monitor reproductive help. In the next step the delphi group was given the nominal group's long list and they were asked to rank their perceived importance of each indicator. An abridged list was created and then redistributed back to the delphi group to make an even more concise list. In the end the list came to include 21 indicators specifically relevant to assessing China's reproductive health. Field tests proved that by combining grassroots and international expertise they were able to make a more effective and efficient health monitoring method. This approach may be a guide for other developing countries so that they may make monitoring systems that are tailored toward their populations which are more effective and efficient than standards developed by international health organizations.
