1. www.healthmetricsnetwork.org 1 IMPLEMENTING IMPROVEMENTS IN CIVIL REGISTRATION AND VITAL STATISTICS SYSTEMS _______________ Conference of Africa Ministers Responsible for Civil Registration Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 10-14 August, 2010

2. Key Points Turning Point for Civil Registration in Africa Unprecedented Global Commitment for CRVS Standards-driven CRVS systems

3. Outline Role of the health sector Vital Statistics Cause of Death MoVE-IT for MDGs Policy and Legal Framework for CRVS Tools and Resources

4. Role of the Health Sector Many births and deaths occur in health facilities Pregnancies – need for early detection and recording Health sector should be legally required to record and report births and deaths Statistics sector should be legally required to provide mortality rates and to demand cause of death data Sector linkages are often weak or absent

5. Vital Statistics Recent attention to the shortcomings of estimates used in the health sector Opportunity to mobilize health sector donors for CRVS improvements to achieve MDGs Increasing recognition to utilize actuarial and cause of death data for forecasting and financial planning

6. Cause of Death Mortality patterns inevitably demand explanations International Classification of Diseases (ICD) enables standard coding of diagnoses and cause of death Health worker training for certification of death and cause of death is weak

7. Cause of Death Even strong CRVS systems have "garbage code" problems Percentage of garbage codes by type of GCs and ICD version, all ages. Source: Naghavi et al, 2010

8. Cause of Death Garbage Code Distribution Source: Naghavi et al, 2010 Fraction of deaths assigned to GCs in the latest ICD-10 year since 2000

9. MoVE-IT for the MDGs HMN Priority Strategic Initiative Monitoring of Vital Events - using Information Technology Birth, death & cause of death for MDGs 4/5/6 Every Birth, Death, and Cause of Death Recorded and Certified Civil Registration System - Sustainable Source of Vital Statistics, and Quality Information

10. MoVE-IT for the MDGs: Partners Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation G8 and H8 Leaders Government of Canada IHME PARIS 21 PHII Rockefeller Foundation The Lancet UN Foundation UNDESA/UNSD UNFPA US Government Women Deliver IN-Depth Network Countdown 2015 GAVI Government of Norway m-Health Alliance PATH R4Development Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria DfID- UK UNAIDS UNDP UNICEF WHO The World Bank PMNCH

11. Policy and Legal Framework HMN assessments reveal that policy is among the weakest components of country information systems Countries have expressed an urgent need for analysis of policy options and preparation of models or templates for legislation Participants are invited to indicate interest in working with HMN to draft a common framework for health information policy in the context of CRVS systems (e-mail: healthmetrics@who.int )healthmetrics@who.int

12. Policy: as a Weakest HIS Domain 1 1 Based on HIS Assessment conducted during 2006-2010 by 27 Africa Countries that used HMN Assessment Tool

13. Policy Challenges CRVS Policy can be enacted from national constitution, statistical system legislation, freedom of information legislation, or international conventions Requires multi-sectoral action and commitment for a functional CRVS system Privacy, security, confidentiality and rights must be balanced against the need to share data to detect emerging risks or epidemics

14. HMN Role Support and advocacy for CRVS resolution Facilitate countries access to resources on CRVS policy Platform for CRVS information exchange –Health un-Bound" (HUB) web community –Promote "best practices" for strengthening CRVS systems –UNSD guidelines and documents

15. Tools and Resources Tools –MoVE Resource Kit –CRVS System Assessment Tool Resources –HUB (Health UnBound) - On-line Partners Forum –ICD coding and web-based training –Guidelines on Resource Mobilization (including GFATM Proposal Guidelines) –List of Institutional and Individual Technical Support Resources –Assistance for measuring efficiencies and impact of ICT, mobile devices Send Request e-mail to: healthmetrics@who.int

16. Key Points Turning Point for Civil Registration in Africa Unprecedented Global Commitment for CRVS Standards-driven CRVS systems

17. THANK YOU