Side Event at the 57th Session of the UN Statistical Commission: Statistics Poland, WHO and UNHCR on Refugee Health Statistics
How can official statistics meet real needs in times of crisis? This question was at the heart of a side event organised by Statistics Poland (GUS) together with WHO and UNHCR on the margins of the 57th Session of the UN Statistical Commission (3 March 2026, New York).
The event, entitled „Implementing International Statistical Recommendations with a Multi-Actor Collaborative Approach: Development of the refugees' health survey", focused on the practical implementation of international statistical recommendations on refugee statistics and on how collaboration between national statistical offices and international organisations can produce data solutions that genuinely serve users' needs. At the centre of the presentations was the „Health of Refugees from Ukraine in Poland" study — developed by Statistics Poland and WHO in cooperation with UNHCR — together with a dashboard presenting the study's findings.
The event showcased an approach based on combining administrative records, survey data and innovative data sources. Participants also discussed methodological solutions designed to ensure comparability of results over time while enabling near-real-time monitoring of the refugee population.
The panel brought together the President of Statistics Poland, Prof. Marek Cierpiał-Wolan, Tarek A. Abou-Chabake from UNHCR, and Rifat Hossain from WHO Poland. A policy-maker's perspective was offered by Prof. Paweł Kowal — Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland — who addressed the role of official statistics in evidence-based decision-making and countering disinformation.