Table 2.

Criteria used to select right-to-health indicators

Criterion	Definition
Scientific robustness	Indicators are reliable (i.e., they provide stable results across various populations and circumstances) and valid (i.e., they measure what they are intended to measure)
Usefulness	Indicators evaluate areas that need improvement and require prioritisation, or right-to-health principles, as opposed to what data are available
Representativeness	Indicators are based on observed data as opposed to estimates from models that rely on assumptions
Understandability	The measures are clear and understandable by policymakers
Importance	Indicators reflect important elements of the right to health or a human rights-based approach to breast cancer

Definitions of these criteria are from E Nolte, M McKee, S Wait. Describing and evaluating health systems. In A Bowling, S Ebrahim (Eds.), Handbook of health research methods, Open University Press, New York (2006), pp. 12–43