What is the World Health Survey?

The World Health survey (WHS) is a surveydesigned by the World Health Organization (WHO) and is adopted by the ExecutiveOffice of the Ministers of Health in the GCC in order to establish a healthdatabase derived from the population of the GCCCs. It has economic, politicaland health benefits.

What is the benefit of the project?

There are several areas that will benefit fromthe WHS, namely:

1- Respondent: The benefit is thetransfer of the respondent’s opinion about the health system as a recipientof the service in a scientific, realistic way.

Identification of the shortcomings of what heviewed as a recipient of service as well as areas of strength of the healthsystem in the State of Kuwait. This will directly benefit the recipients of theservice. Also the respondent will benefit from some medical tests andmeasurements of free and he/she will obtain a copy of the results of thesetests.

2- Ministry of Health (MOH): Provision of realistic, nation-wide,scientifically sound study about the health situation in the State of Kuwait.WHS will provide a database enabling decision makers to take decisionsnecessary for the development of the health services and to evaluate healthprograms that have been applied or to be applied and to measure the success ofthese programs.

3- Research centers in Kuwait: as universities and research centers within and outside the MOH,by providing nation-wide data that may not be available as provided by thissurvey.

4- Other service ministries: such as researches linking of educationallevel and the quality of life, as well as research on family budgets and familyexpenditure. This information is of great importance to various agencies suchas the Supreme Council of the Planning, Public Authority for Youth and Sportsand other service ministries such as Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor,Ministry of Awqaf and of Communications.

5- The Nation Council: represented through its Committee ofHealth to benefit from the results of this survey in making suggestions for thedevelopment of the health sector.

6- GCC: the represented by its Executive office of Ministers of Health ofthe States of the Council, by comparing the results of the project among theGCCCs. This will help in designing policies to achieve the health integrationat the maximum level of health among the States members of the Council.

7- WHO: through the use of these data in making comparisons among Statesand to assist the Member States in designing health policy on the basis ofdocumented valid information.

Privacy Policy:

The involved agencies are obliged to maintain theconfidentiality of personal data. Personal data collected will not be releasedto any area and will be only treated as approved with the policy of the Stateof Kuwait. Kuwait Ministry of Health is vested in keeping these information.

What is the body that will carry out the survey?

The Ministry of Health, under the supervision ofthe Executive Office of the Health Ministers of Gulf Cooperation Council andthe World Health Organization with participation of the Kuwait Foundation forthe Advancement of Science (KFAS), will implement this study in order to ensurebest quality of the work, accuracy of data and quality of the results.

Who are the donors?

The Ministry of Health, Kuwait is funding themain bulk of the project. The Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Science(KFAS) will also supply a large part of the project. The WHO has earmarked$50000 as symbolic contribution to the project, which costs almost (half amillion KD).

What will be with regard to lab investigation andinformation derived from the participants?

These data will be revised. Any personal datawill be removed to ensure the confidentiality of information. A copy of theresults of tests will be given to the participant with the possibility ofproviding treatment to those who are found with a disease discovered by thesurvey.

Data collected by researchers, after astatistical analysis to infer some of the indicators and evidences, will beused to assess the health situation in the State of Kuwait and to guide thefuture health plans of the State.

How will we contact you as a participant?

The participant will be contacted personally intwo phases. The first will be in the form of an invitation letter, followed bytelephone contact by the Contact Group of the Survey, to explain the topicsinvolving the interview and to determine the date of the meeting, which will beby researchers (usually two ladies).

How was the sample selected and why?

Choice was made according to scientific bases andby selecting a random sample representative of the population of Kuwait throughthe Public Authority for Civil Information in order to ensure the credibilityof the selection.

Is participation mandatory?

Of course not, but we hope that the participationof all respondents who were selected for the sample. In this way we serveourselves and eventually the State of Kuwait, which has long given the many.Also, the population of Kuwait will benefit from this survey directly andindirectly.

How to recognize the researcher?

Prior to the arrival of researcher, date will befirst set with the participants. The researcher will carry a special ID cardwith a photograph, Civil ID and name.

Will researcher be male or female?

For the ordinary familiescalled also “special families”, the team will becomposed of two ladies researchers. For the collective families, labour camps,there will be a male researcher to conduct the interview.

Where can participant express his/her comments?

You can send any comments on the e-mail tospecially designed for the survey and you can also contact the hotline of thesurvey. The contact numbers will be available with researchers whenever yourequest.

What are the necessary preparations before thevisit?

There is no preparation needed from theparticipants except his/her presence at home during the visit in advance,specified by a telephone call. Regarding the medical investigations, he/shemust be fasting for 12 hours before taking blood sample in the specified healthcenter.

• Also, be patient with some embarrassingquestions (such as those dealing with sexual relationships - smoking - alcohol- property or jewelry .....) with the full right to refuse to answer.

• In the individual questionnaire, it must tonote the lengthy of questions, some of which appear to repeated, and thepresence of special technology in some of the questions, the so-called"vignettes", which are short stories (each story about two lines)regarding other people with certain health problems, which are requested to theattention of the respondent to answer. These have been prepared by specialistsin the WHO in a systematic way to reveal the unconscious level of therespondents. These type of questions requires also patience of respondents.

• It is required from special families to preparefor birth certificates of children under five, or any official document provingthat they receive various vaccinations, both within and outside Kuwait.

Is there a clinic in each region?

A number of clinics will be determined in eachgovernorate. An official letter will be given to facilitate the lab testingwithout the need to stand in a queue. Another letter will be given to the workplace of the participant stating he/she is late because of making blood test inthe WHS.

Was this study conducted previously?

Such a study of such size had not been conductedin Kuwait before, so it is a pioneering experiment. However, in other GulfStates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Oman has finished the phase of data collectionof the same survey in 2008, in addition to more than 80 countries in the world.

What are the blood tests required?

Complete blood picture, fasting blood sugar levelas well as other levels of blood fats as cholesterol, triglycerides, HDLP, LDLPwill be done. No other laboratory testing for infectious diseases (e.g.hepatitis, AIDS or others) will be carried out.

What will be done in the case of detection of anycondition of the participants?

In the case of the discovery that the participantis a diabetic, has a rise in the level of blood fats, high blood pressure oranemia that has not diagnosed before, the Ministry will inform him/her of theresult and give him/her a report that he can benefit in the future and will beadvised to the appropriate place to receive treatment.

For More Details :

http://www.q8whs.com/mainwhs.htm