The World Health Survey was a one-time survey series, meaning that the surveys were not done in the same country more than once. The datasets with metadata and reports are currently available online at http://www.who.int/healthinfo/survey/en/index.html.
The intention of the survey was to provide reliable and comparable information on health systems at a low cost. The series gathered comprehensive information on population health and was intended to provide insight into how health systems are functioning for purposes of policy analysis. There were two different formats for the survey, a long and short form, each with a household and an individual component. The surveys in developed countries generally used the short form. Topics included health status, health care expenditures, emergency care services, conditions such as heart disease, asthma and osteoarthritis, and general demographics.