title: The World Health Organization STEPwise Approach to Noncommunicable Disease Risk-Factor Surveillance: Methods, Challenges, and Opportunities.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We sought to outline the framework and methods used by the World Health Organization (WHO) STEPwise approach to noncommunicable disease (NCD) surveillance (STEPS), describe the development and current status, and discuss strengths, limitations, and future directions of STEPS surveillance.
  
  
  METHODS
  STEPS is a WHO-developed, standardized but flexible framework for countries to monitor the main NCD risk factors through questionnaire assessment and physical and biochemical measurements. It is coordinated by national authorities of the implementing country. The STEPS surveys are generally household-based and interviewer-administered, with scientifically selected samples of around 5000 participants.
  
  
  RESULTS
  To date, 122 countries across all 6 WHO regions have completed data collection for STEPS or STEPS-aligned surveys.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  STEPS data are being used to inform NCD policies and track risk-factor trends. Future priorities include strengthening these linkages from data to action on NCDs at the country level, and continuing to develop STEPS' capacities to enable a regular and continuous cycle of risk-factor surveillance worldwide.
authors.affiliation: Leanne Riley, Regina Guthold, Melanie Cowan, Stefan Savin, Lubna Bhatti, and Timothy Armstrong are with Department for Prevention of Noncommunicable Diseases, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland. Ruth Bonita is with University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Leanne
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Riley
authors.affiliation: Leanne Riley, Regina Guthold, Melanie Cowan, Stefan Savin, Lubna Bhatti, and Timothy Armstrong are with Department for Prevention of Noncommunicable Diseases, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland. Ruth Bonita is with University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Regina
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Guthold
authors.affiliation: Leanne Riley, Regina Guthold, Melanie Cowan, Stefan Savin, Lubna Bhatti, and Timothy Armstrong are with Department for Prevention of Noncommunicable Diseases, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland. Ruth Bonita is with University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Melanie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cowan
authors.affiliation: Leanne Riley, Regina Guthold, Melanie Cowan, Stefan Savin, Lubna Bhatti, and Timothy Armstrong are with Department for Prevention of Noncommunicable Diseases, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland. Ruth Bonita is with University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Savin
authors.affiliation: Leanne Riley, Regina Guthold, Melanie Cowan, Stefan Savin, Lubna Bhatti, and Timothy Armstrong are with Department for Prevention of Noncommunicable Diseases, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland. Ruth Bonita is with University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Lubna
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bhatti
authors.affiliation: Leanne Riley, Regina Guthold, Melanie Cowan, Stefan Savin, Lubna Bhatti, and Timothy Armstrong are with Department for Prevention of Noncommunicable Diseases, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland. Ruth Bonita is with University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Timothy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Armstrong
authors.affiliation: Leanne Riley, Regina Guthold, Melanie Cowan, Stefan Savin, Lubna Bhatti, and Timothy Armstrong are with Department for Prevention of Noncommunicable Diseases, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland. Ruth Bonita is with University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Ruth
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bonita
mesh_terms: D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D014943:Global Health; D006284:Health Plan Implementation / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012494:Sampling Studies; D014944:World Health Organization