National Obesity Observatory publish set of e-atlases to examine data on obesity & associated diseases for adults and children

The National Obesity Observatory (NOO) was established in December 2007 and one of its main functions is to develop innovative analytical and data presentation tools as well as describe and map data on weight status and associated indicators.

NOO is a member of the Association of Public Health Observatories and is sited alongside the South East Public Health Observatory in Oxford. It works closely with a wide range of organisations and provides support to policy makers and practitioners involved in obesity and related issues.

The charity’s stated mission is “to improve the lives of people with diabetes and to work towards a future without diabetes.” Two central areas of its work supporting this mission are campaigning and information provision.

Starting point

NOO has access to large amounts of data at primary care trust (PCT) and local authority (LA) level from various sources. It wanted to find a way of bringing the data together and therefore avoiding the duplication of effort in preparing reports. It also was interested in finding a way of presenting the data so that it could be easily interpreted.

Meeting the need

Using InstantAtlas NOO has created a set of e-atlases; these tools enable users to examine data on obesity, its determinants and associated diseases for adults and children. The child e-atlases include National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) data for 2008/09. NOO is continuing to develop these interactive tools, adding more indicators and functionality.

Caroline Ridler, Senior Public Health Intelligence Analyst, South East Public Health Observatory says that most of the users of the e-atlases are PCTs but she believes anyone interested in obesity will find them helpful.

Making the project work

NOO carried out a stakeholder survey to find out how useful the reports are and feedback has been positive. The way the e-atlases are used has also been tracked using Google analytics which has revealed worldwide interest -mostly from universities and government departments in the US and in Europe.

Processing the data and making sure it has been quality checked still takes time but the team have found InstantAtlas easy to use and the different templates that are available have been useful.

NOO is planning to add more indicators to the e-atlases and will continue to update current indicators. The team is also aiming to make the tools easier to use so that it is possible to download data rather than having to make a specific request.

Key benefits

InstantAtlas has helped NOO to combine data from multiple sources. In addition the e-atlases have helped by:

• ensuring large amounts of data can be presented in a meaningful way
• generating interest in the obesity data – particularly child obesity
• helping PCTs and LAs make sense of the data at local level.”

“The National Obesity Observatory needs software that is easy to use. The fact that we can use an InstantAtlas template ‘out-of-the box’ saves us time and helps us to display a lot of complex data in a simple and accessible format.”

Other public health stories and reports that will interest you

CHIMAT - Using data presentation to improve the commissioning of child and maternal health services.

Diabetes UK deploys InstantAtlas to help it inform, promote and campaign.

National Institute for Health and Welfare (Finland) How data presentation is helping the National Institute for Health and Welfare Finland meet its statutory requirement on health monitoring and addressing health inequalities at local area level.

INCAP - How data presentation is helping health ministers in Central America target intervention programmes.

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