Overview
Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) systems are crucial for recording vital events like births, deaths, marriages, and divorces. They provide essential data for public health and social development planning. Established CRVS systems offer accurate and timely population data, aiding policy-making and resource allocation.
International organisations, such as the World Health Organization, have emphasised the importance of strengthening CRVS systems as part of overall health system improvement, through providing technical assistance, capacity building, and developing standards and guidelines.
However, many countries struggle with maintaining robust CRVS systems due to inadequate infrastructure, weak legal frameworks which dictates what data to collect, lack of training in how to collect accurate data, and insufficient investment, leading to the under-registration of vital events. Strong CRVS systems are essential for effective governance and public health, enabling countries to monitor health trends, disaggregate data based on gender and regions, plan and evaluate interventions, and respond to emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic.
About us
At the School of Population Health, our team of experts is dedicated to supporting projects that strengths the CRVS systems across the Asia-Pacific region. One such initiatives is the Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Data for Health (D4H) program, which aims to improve the quality and usage of health data in low- and middle-income countries. Through these initiatives, we strive to ensure that health data is accurate, accessible, and effectively utilised to inform health policies and interventions.
Our team works on providing technical assistance and training in countries with the following interventions:
- Medically Certified Cause of Death (MCCD) for deaths in hospital settings.
- International Cause of Death (ICD) coding.
- Verbal autopsy (VA) to strengthen cause of death data for community deaths.
- Data analysis, reporting and use for planning.
- Knowledge exchange.
- Embedding research in CRVS system strengthening.
- Work in collaboration with the Government and multiple stakeholders in India, Papua New Guinea, Philippines and Solomon Islands.
Our team
Our research expertise
The CSSU team specialises in a range of research interests and expertise to strengthening the CRVS systems.
- Using verbal autopsy data to understand
- community causes of death in clinical trials in China (Salt Substitute Study) (2020)
- causes of death in a region with high rates of kidney disease, India (2024)
- causes of death in Vietnam
- epilepsy related deaths in India – STOP Epilepsy
- Embedding verbal autopsy in a non-communicable diseases study in South Asia [content will be added later]
- Andhra Pradesh rural health initiative (2003-2012) [content will be added later]
- Digital Solutions to improve cause of death data for community deaths [content to be added later]
- Embedding VA in an NCD study in South Asia [content will be added later]
- Implementation of VA on smart phones in China (2016) [content will be added later]
- Digital Solutions to improve cause of death data for community deaths
Our projects
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Launched by Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Data for Health (D4H) initiative aims to improve health data quality and usage in low- and middle-income countries. It addresses gaps in CRVS systems by providing technical assistance, training, and resources to enhance data collection on births, deaths, and noncommunicable disease (NCD) risk factors. Co-funded by the Australian Government and supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, D4H collaborates with governments to ensure health policy decisions are based on accurate data.
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More information coming soon.
Our publications
More information coming soon.
Our partners
Resources
- Johns Hopkins CRVS in Population Health course: Civil Registration & Vital Statistics in Population Health | Coursera
- WHO: Civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) - WHO
- Vital Strategies: Vital Strategies: A Global Public Health Organization
Funders
Coming soon
Gallery
More information coming soon.