Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what guidelines her Department follows in regards to health data sharing in the countries in which it works.

When working in the health sector, DFID usually relies on national data sets or those collected by other partners, such as Demographic and Health Surveys. We usually encourage sharing of data and have worked with the World Health Organization and other UN agencies to encourage them to share data more actively with permission from governments.

Research funded by DFID is covered by our Research Open and Enhanced Access Policy. Open access refers to irrevocable and free online access by any user worldwide to the full version of the scientific and scholarly material. The policy includes the sharing of data from which any research is derived. The policy recommends that raw datasets are deposited in a suitable open access discipline or institutional repository within 12 months of final data collection. Researchers should also retain and provide free on request raw datasets for a minimum of five years after project completion.

The full open access policy is available online: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dfid-research-open-and-enhanced-access-policy.