Automated verbal autopsy: from research to routine use in civil registration and vital statistics systems

BMC Medicine
Riley H HazardAlan D Lopez

Abstract

The majority of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) do not have adequate civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) systems to properly support health policy formulation. Verbal autopsy (VA), long used in research, can provide useful information on the cause of death (COD) in populations where physicians are not available to complete medical certificates of COD. Here, we report on the application of the SmartVA tool for the collection and analysis of data in several countries as part of routine CRVS activities. Data from VA interviews conducted in 4 of 12 countries supported by the Bloomberg Philanthropies Data for Health (D4H) Initiative, and at different stages of health statistical development, were analysed and assessed for plausibility: Myanmar, Papua New Guinea (PNG), Bangladesh and the Philippines. Analyses by age- and cause-specific mortality fractions were compared to the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study data by country. VA interviews were analysed using SmartVA-Analyze-automated software that was designed for use in CRVS systems. The method in the Philippines differed from the other sites in that the VA output was used as a decision support tool for health officers. Country strategies for VA implementatio...Continue Reading

References

Dec 3, 2003·Scandinavian Journal of Public Health. Supplement·Peter ByassHoang Van Minh
Nov 22, 2007·Lancet·Prasanta MahapatraUNKNOWN Monitoring Vital Events
Aug 6, 2011·Population Health Metrics·Spencer L JamesUNKNOWN Population Health Metrics Research Consortium (PHMRC)
Dec 19, 2016·Journal of the American Statistical Association·Tyler H McCormickSamuel J Clark
May 8, 2018·BMJ Global Health·Lisa-Marie ThomasDina Balabanova
Mar 28, 2019·International Journal of Epidemiology·Hebe N GoudaIan D Riley
Sep 3, 2019·Bulletin of the World Health Organization·Moyeen UddinZeaul Alam

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Citations

Mar 10, 2020·BMC Medicine·Ross M Boyce, Raquel Reyes
May 6, 2021·Population Health Metrics·Jinlei QiAlan D Lopez
May 20, 2021·International Journal of Epidemiology·John D HartAlan D Lopez
Sep 24, 2021·Applied Clinical Informatics·Muhammad I A DurraniAlessia Amelio

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Software Mentioned

SmartVA Auto - Analyze
SmartVA questionnaire
Auto
ODK Aggregate
Collect
SmartVA
Analyze
DHIS
InterVA
ODK

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