Reproductive health indicators in the European Union: The REPROSTAT project

Our objective was to develop a set of indicators for monitoring and describing reproductive health in the European Union (EU) that reflect common concerns of the different Member States. Ideally, the indicators would possibly draw upon existing data sources. The REPROSTAT project: (i) conducted a review of existing recommendations on reproductive health indicators; (ii) suggested a set of initial indicators in consultation with representatives from relevant outside agencies and organisations; and (iii) invited 200 reproductive health experts throughout Europe to review the provisional set of indicators. The feasibility of using the REPROSTAT indicators was tested for two countries, Italy and Germany. A final set of 13 core indicators was developed, as well as another recommended indicator and four that needed further development. The pilot use of the indicators in Italy and Germany provided useful information about availability of data in different Member States. The REPROSTAT project developed a set of reproductive health indicators believed to be of relevance for planning, prevention, and caring within the EU. Further, harmonisation of data from different Member States will be needed if the benefits of these indicators are to be fully realised. (C) 2006 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.