WHO GHO Health Indicators Scraper

WHO GHO Health Indicators Scraper

Scrape WHO Global Health Observatory indicators, from mortality and immunization to health financing, in one flat dataset. Pull any of thousands of indicator codes with country, year, and value, or browse the full catalog. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

The WHO Global Health Observatory holds the world's health statistics, but its API returns nested JSON that is hard to flatten and its catalog is hard to browse. This Actor reads the public GHO API directly and returns each indicator fact as one clean row, with no API key or registration. You can pull a single indicator like under-five mortality or air pollution DALYs, or list every available indicator code and name.

Who uses it	What they scrape WHO Global Health Observatory for
Public health researchers	Build country-year panels of mortality, immunization, or risk factor indicators for analysis.
Data journalists	Pull WHO health statistics to fact-check stories or create charts on disease burden.
NGO program managers	Track health indicators across countries to monitor progress and allocate resources.
Health data engineers	Automate extraction of GHO data into data warehouses or dashboards.

What it does

This Actor collects WHO GHO indicator metadata and facts, and returns each fact as a flat row with indicator code, country, year, and value.

• 📋 Catalog mode: list every WHO GHO indicator with its code and name, up to a million rows.
• 🎯 Indicator mode: pull all facts for one indicator code, like MDG_0000000001 for under-five mortality.
• 🌍 Country filter: restrict facts to one or more ISO-3 country codes, or leave empty for all countries.
• 📅 Year window: set yearFrom and yearTo to include only facts within a date range.
• 🔢 Max items: cap the number of facts returned per run, from 1 to 1,000,000.

Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.

What you can do with WHO Global Health Observatory data

📈 Track mortality trends.

A researcher pulls under-five mortality rate (MDG_0000000007) for all countries from 2000 to 2023 and exports CSV to plot trends in R.

🌍 Compare health financing.

An NGO analyst pulls out-of-pocket health expenditure (GHED_OOPSCHE_SHA2011) for low-income countries to compare financial protection.

📊 Build a country-year panel.

A data engineer runs the Actor for life expectancy (WHOSIS_000001) and immunization coverage (WHS4_543) across 50 countries, then loads the flat rows into a database.

🔍 Discover available indicators.

A journalist uses catalog mode to list all GHO indicators, then searches for air pollution or tobacco to find the right codes.

Why choose this scraper

	What you get
No API key	Reads the public GHO API directly, no registration or OAuth.
Flat rows	Each fact is returned as one row with indicator code, country, year, and value.
Full catalog	List every indicator code and name in one run.
Country and year filters	Narrow facts to specific countries or time windows before export.
Multiple export formats	Download as CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

How it compares

No other Store actor targets WHO Global Health Observatory the same way, so the honest comparison is with the alternatives teams actually weigh.

	WHO GHO Health Indicators Scraper	Build it in-house	By hand
Setup	Run it now, zero config	Days of engineering	None, but hours per pull
When WHO Global Health Observatory changes	Maintained for you	You fix it	You re-learn the page
Proxies, retries, anti-bot	Built in	Your problem	Browser only
Output	Fixed JSON schema, CSV/Excel export	Whatever you build	Copy-paste
Cost	Pay per result	Engineering time	Analyst hours

Configure the run

Drive the Actor with a mode, an optional indicator code, and optional country and year filters. Filters run as each fact is read, so only matching rows reach your dataset. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

{
  "maxItems": 10,
  "mode": "catalog",
  "indicatorCode": "MDG_0000000001"
}

A larger pull:

{
  "maxItems": 200,
  "mode": "catalog",
  "indicatorCode": "MDG_0000000001"
}

Pricing

Pay-per-result: $0.005 per result collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.

Results collected	Approximate cost
100 results	$0.50
1,000 results	$5.00
10,000 results	$50.00

New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.

Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. Upgrade your Apify plan to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

Run it

1. Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit.
2. Open the WHO GHO Health Indicators Scraper.
3. Set your inputs and any filters, then click Start.
4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the Dataset tab.

Run it programmatically through the Apify API (run-sync-get-dataset-items) or the ApifyClient for JavaScript and Python.

Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to WHO Global Health Observatory through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

$claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=parseforge/who-gho-health-indicators-scraper"

Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.

Troubleshooting

Why am I getting no results?

Check your filters. If you set a countryCode that has no data for the indicator, or a year window that does not overlap, you will get zero rows. Try removing filters or using catalog mode to verify the indicator code.

The run is slow or times out.

Reduce maxItems or narrow the country and year filters. The GHO API can be slow for large requests, so smaller batches are more reliable.

I get an error about an invalid indicator code.

Use catalog mode to list valid codes, or check the dropdown in the input schema. Codes are case-sensitive, like MDG_0000000001.

The output has duplicate rows.

The GHO API sometimes returns multiple records for the same indicator, country, and year with different dimensions. Use the dataset's deduplication feature or filter in your downstream tool.

FAQ

Question	Answer
What is the WHO Global Health Observatory?	The WHO GHO is the World Health Organization's main data repository for health statistics, covering mortality, morbidity, risk factors, health systems, and more.
Do I need an API key or registration?	No. The Actor reads the public GHO API directly, so no key or OAuth is required.
How do I find the right indicator code?	Run the Actor in catalog mode to list all indicator codes and names. Then use the code in indicator mode, or pick from the dropdown in the input schema.
Can I filter by country?	Yes. Provide one or more ISO-3 country codes in the countryCode field, like USA or KEN. Leave empty for all countries.
Can I filter by year?	Yes. Set yearFrom and yearTo to include only facts within that range. Both are optional.
What does each row look like?	Each row is a flat object with fields like indicator code, indicator name, country, year, and value. The exact fields are shown in the sample output.
How many facts can I pull in one run?	You can set maxItems up to 1,000,000. The default is 10.
What export formats are supported?	CSV, JSON, Excel, and XML.
Is the data live?	Yes, the Actor reads the current GHO API on each run, so you get the latest published values.
Can I schedule this Actor to run regularly?	Yes, you can set up a schedule on Apify to run it daily, weekly, or monthly and store the results in a dataset.

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Browse the full ParseForge collection for more scrapers.

🆘 Need help? Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.

⚠️ Disclaimer. This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by World Health Organization. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.