Medical Data in Humanitarian Emergencies: Does the WHO MDS Need a Revision?

Background/Introduction: The World Health Organization (WHO) Emergency Medical Team (EMT) Minimum Data Set (MDS) consists of a package of selected medical data items for recording and reporting patient encounters during sudden onset disaster. The MDS is primarily tailored for trauma and surgical care, and its effectiveness, particularly in contexts where other levels of care are needed, namely primary health care (PHC), has been strongly debated. Objectives: This study aims to analyze medical data from three UK-MED/UK-EMT deployments, compare the current MDS tool with its context-adapted versions, and explore potential improvements to enhance the effectiveness and adaptability of medical reporting. Method/Description: We conducted a statistical analysis of medical data collected and reported in three types of settings: a) Ukraine (conflict), b) Malawi (outbreak), and c) Türkiye (earthquake). Results/Outcomes: The analysis of data from recent deployments in Ukraine, Malawi, and Türkiye reveals that non-trauma medical encounters are often categorized as “other” indicating that the current MDS lacks adaptability to various disaster types (non-trauma), local contexts, and specific medical needs. In addition, the tool generates extensive data with low granularity which has proven unhelpful in supporting health programming decision-making and for analysis of disaggregated data during and post-deployment. Conclusion: We advocate for a comprehensive revision of the MDS, emphasizing the development of a modular data collection approach that can be tailored to specific local contexts and health services. This revised approach will enhance the utility of collected data for both immediate response efforts and long-term health system improvements, without adding extra data collection burden on clinicians.