SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA AND TAIPEI, TAIWAN - 5 August 2020 - Kantar Health, a leading global healthcare data, analytics and research provider, today announces the expansion of its National Health and Wellness Survey (NHWS) into South Korea and Taiwan. NHWS is the world's largest patient-reported outcomes survey and provides a unique patient perspective into health needs and experiences.
 
Over 40,000 patients and caregivers in South Korea and Taiwan will join the survey, increasing the global sample size to 250,000 patients across 12 markets, which already include Japan and China. In its 23rd year of reporting, NHWS covers 200 medical conditions using validated research instruments and disease-specific measures.
 
NHWS also has the flexibility to uncover timely, synergistic insights around global healthcare events through Pulse recontact surveys. The survey found that the proportion of patients reporting symptoms of moderate to severe depression in South Korea almost doubled from 16% to 30% since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. In comparison, the proportion of respondents reporting these symptoms in Taiwan, a country which has been widely praised for its response to the pandemic, did not significantly change during the same period.
 
Lynnette Cooke, Global CEO, Kantar Health, commented, "Our goal is to understand patients' unmet needs and provide guidance in the development of new therapies to improve health outcomes and resource utilisation. The National Health and Wellness Survey stands alone globally in providing robust evidence of the burden of illness that patients experience and the value that different medical interventions can deliver."
 
"With Patient-reported outcomes (PRO) increasingly being considered as part of regulatory submissions and reimbursement decisions in South Korea and Taiwan, we are delighted to add these important countries to our global knowledge pool," added Questa Lin, General Manager, Taiwan, Kantar Health. (*).