In this Series paper, the authors examine whether well functioning civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) systems are associated with improved population health outcomes. They present a conceptual model connecting CRVS to wellbeing, and describe an ecological association between CRVS and health outcomes. The conceptual model posits that the legal identity that civil registration provides to individuals is key to access entitlements and services. Vital statistics produced by CRVS systems provide essential information for public health policy and prevention.

An effective Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) system helps secure a person’s legal identity, tracks the major events of an individual’s life such as; birth, adoption, marriage, divorce, death, and cause of death, and is essential for planning, measuring and monitoring progress of development. In the past few years, several initiatives have been underway to harness the potential of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to strengthen CRVS.

This publication provides a brief sketch of foundational ID systems in 48 African countries, giving valuable information on the state of birth registration and national ID systems in each country.

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The Asia-Pacific Region has the highest risk of exposure to natural hazards in the world. Seven out of the ten deadliest disasters worldwide since 1980 occurred in Asia. In order to abate the impacts of these disasters, disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA) policies, programs and activities have been adopted by countries in the region to enable them to continue to develop sustainably amidst the inevitable occurrences of natural hazards.

Over the years, the Nordic NSIs have presented a number of reports on producing statistics based on administrative sources. The purpose of the present report is to collect all main experiences in one document. The experiences in the Nordic countries are very similar, so it is possible to describe some "best practices" common to all countries. However, some examples from single countries are presented, and comparisons between countries are given when relevant.

Births are registered and birth data are collected in China by different government departments, and the completeness and quality of birth data are heavily affected by the one-child policy irrespective of the involving departments. In this paper, data from population census, primary school enrollment and household registration system are used to assess the completeness of birth registration in China by employing three types of methods—linear regression, Brass /PF ratio method, and Preston integrated approach. The three types of estimation derived from multiple data are highly consistent.

Australian National University's presentation made at the Expert Group Meeting on "Methodology and lessons learned to evaluate the completeness and quality of vital statistics data from civil registration“, New York, 3‐4 November 2016.

The Philippine Statistics Authority's presentation made at the Expert Group Meeting on "Methodology and lessons learned to evaluate the completeness and quality of vital statistics data from civil registration“, New York, 3‐4 November 2016.

Do you want to know how many countries in Asia and the Pacific have a CRVS coordination mechanism? Are you interested in how ambitious the national targets are for the CRVS Decade? Do you know when countries in Asia and the Pacific aim to be able to produce annual vital statistics reports?

"Is every child counted?" provides a status report on the data availability of child related SDG indicators showing that sufficient data is available only for half of those. Many indicators, such as those on poverty and violence cannot be compared, and are either too limited or of poor quality, leaving governments without the information they need to accurately address challenges facing millions of children, or to track progress towards achieving the Goals. The report also identifies priorities for enhancing the collection, analysis and use of data for children.

A global meeting on civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) took place in Addis Ababa from 28-29 April 2014, co-hosted by the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Bank Group, and sponsored by the Government of Canada Department for Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD).

A global meeting on civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) took place in Addis Ababa from 28-29 April 2014, co-hosted by the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Bank Group, and sponsored by the Government of Canada Department for Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD).

This document has been developed through a consultative process involving country representatives from the health, civil registration and statistics sectors, technical experts, researchers, and representatives of agencies, donors and development partners. As part of this process, a technical meeting, Improving Mortality Statistics as part of Strengthening Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems, World Health Organization, Technical Meeting, was convened by WHO from 4 to 5 November 2014 in Geneva, Switzerland.

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This is the report on the Regional Steering Group for Civil Registration and Vital Statistics in Asia and the Pacific on its 2nd meeting, held on 6 and 7 September 2016, prepared with the guidance of the Regional Steering Group and presented to the Fifth Committee on Statistics.

In May 2015, members and associate members of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific endorsed the Ministerial Declaration to “Get Every One in the Picture” in Asia and the Pacific and the Regional Action Framework on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics in Asia and the Pacific, and declared the Asian and Pacific Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Decade, 2015-2024.

The Sample Registration System (SRS) in India is the largest demographic survey in the world covering about 1.5 million households and 7.3 million population. It has continued to be the main source of information on fertility and mortality indicators both at the State and National levels. Apart from the large sample size and geographical spread in most of the Districts, the system has a unique feature of dual recording, which involves collection of data through two different procedures viz., continuous enumeration and retrospective half-yearly surveys.

The note outlines the content and key issues addressed during the 2014 Ministerial Conference special sessions.

The handbook is a useful reference for practicing statisticians in the national statistics offices, and those working in the education, health, and vital registration agencies in developing countries. The discussions on strengths and weaknesses of different data sources have been carried out skillfully, citing country examples on the use of administrative data for compiling the Millennium Development Goals indicators and other relevant statistics.

Increasing demand for better quality data and more investment to strengthen civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) systems will require increased emphasis on objective, comparable, cost-effective monitoring and assessment methods to measure progress.

Pakistan is a leader in the application of identification systems and technology to a range of development issues. The National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) of Pakistan has become a central player in a number of program areas and has been internationally recognized for its expertise, including winning many awards for excellence. Pakistan has pioneered applications of biometric technology, successfully administering smart card programs for disaster relief programs and financial inclusion schemes for the underserved.

Vital statistics derived from civil registration systems are global public goods that governments of developing countries and development partners need for generation of comprehensive and detailed health outcome data, which are a key component of building the evidence base for health improvement
• Worldwide civil registration systems have largely stagnated, during the past five decades, in terms of their vital statistics potential

This report presents 2013 data on U.S. births according to a wide variety of characteristics. Data are presented for maternal age, live-birth order, race and Hispanic origin, marital status, attendant at birth, method of delivery, period of gestation, birth weight, and plurality. Birth and fertility rates are presented by age, live-birth order, race and Hispanic origin, and marital status. Selected data by mother’s state of residence and birth rates by age and race of father also are shown.

By 2024, the Civil Registrars across the Pacific will work together in ways that are flexible to local needs, with a shared approach to legislative change, enabling technology and data exchange

This global health and life sciences course enables learners to investigate health problems affecting large populations – the whole world in fact! By understanding the big numbers in global mortality and their causes and distributions you will learn how to think numerically about global health. We will use real data from real people to ask the questions: What are the major causes of death in the world? Why do we need cause of death statistics? How does counting the dead help the living?

As part of the reporting structure of the Regional Action Framework on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) in Asia and the Pacific, by the end of 2015, members and associate members are required to submit a baseline report to the ESCAP Secretariat through their designated national focal point. This report is the report submitted by Kyrgyzstan.

As part of the reporting structure of the Regional Action Framework on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) in Asia and the Pacific, by the end of 2015, members and associate members are required to submit a baseline report to the ESCAP Secretariat through their designated national focal point. This report is the provisional report submitted by Bangladesh.

This issue of the Report on ‘Vital Statistics of India based on the Civil Registration System’ for the year 2013 provides an overview of the working of the Civil Registration System (CRS) in the country and presents a compilation of data on registered births, deaths and infant deaths with rural-urban & sex-wise break-up and sex ratio at birth based on Civil Registration Records. Ideally, an Annual Report on vital statistics containing more detailed information should have been brought out.

Non-official document, for information only, prepared by the Working group of co-organizers of the Ministerial Conference on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics in Asia and the Pacific

The Ministerial Declaration to "Get every one in the picture' in Asia and the Pacific was made at the Ministerial Conference on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics in Asia and the Pacific in November 2014.

The 2016 version of the WHO verbal autopsy instrument is suitable for routine use. The instrument is designed for all age groups, including maternal and perinatal deaths, and also deaths caused by injuries. Based on the 2012 instrument, and the 2014 version, questions have been added or edited to facilitate the use of publicly available analytical software for assigning the cause of death (SmartVA, InterVA, InSilicoVA).

The ANACoD electronic tool provides a step-by-step approach to enable users to quickly conduct a comprehensive analysis of data on mortality levels and causes of death. The tool is an Excel-based application and offers a wider range of analyses and includes a special module for analysing external causes of injury deaths.

The Asian and Pacific Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Decade 2015- 2024 was proclaimed at the Ministerial Conference on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics in Asia and Pacific, held in Bangkok in November 2014. This publication contains the Ministerial Declaration to "Get Every One in the Picture" and the Regional Action Framework on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics in Asia and the Pacific, which were two key outcomes of the Conference.

The Plan was expected to serve as a guiding tool for countries, regional and international organizations, in managing interventions and monitoring achievements in CRVS systems in Africa from 2010-2015. This regional medium-term plan (MTP) is designed to address areas that need critical reform measures to ensure improved results across all member States.

The present set of principles and recommendations provides guidance on establishing a functioning system for collecting, processing and disseminating vital statistics; improving sources of vital statistics, primarily the functioning of the civil registration system and its components; and the role of complementary sources of vital statistics, such as population censuses, household surveys and public-health records. The present publication provides an extensive examination of the role of population registers in the context of both vital statistics and civil registration.

This guide is intended to help build analytical capacity to assess the quality of mortality statistics that are currently being collected in order to improve their value in informing health policies and programs. To assist countries in validating and correcting their mortality data, the World Health Organization (WHO), in partnership with the Health Information Systems Knowledge Hub at the University of Queensland (UQ), Brisbane, has developed this mortality statistics assessment guide and toolkit.

The VAI was initially designed to be used by field reporters with minimal schooling and had only 18 symptom questions. It also allowed for the recording of a brief open-ended narrative, the place of death, any treatment by health services, and the type of treatment. The disease classification was based on Lay reporting of health information (WHO 1978) and COD was entered into the international form of the death certificate. Verbal autopsies (VAs) were physician-coded with reference to diagnostic algorithms.

These basic guidelines are a tool for countries and regions that have not yet introduced correct cause-of-death certification according to the ICD, or established ICD morbidity and mortality coding practices for their data, and therefore cannot compare the health situation of their population to that of other countries. The tool is organised for easy reference and explains in a stepwise way how to go about establishing ICD certification and coding practices in a country or region.

This manual provides instructions to mortality medical coders and nosologists for coding multiple causes of death from death certificates filed in the states. These mortality coding instructions are used by both the State vital statistics programs and the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), which is the Federal agency responsible for the compilation of U.S. statistics on causes of death. NCHS is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

This manual provides instructions to mortality medical coders and nosologists for coding the underlying cause of death from death certificates filed in the states. These mortality coding instructions are used by both the State vital statistics programs and the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), which is the Federal agency responsible for the compilation of U.S. statistics on causes of death. NCHS is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

This Handbook provides guidance for developing national capability to operate and maintain, in a coordinated manner, the fundamental systems of civil registration and vital statistics. It contains course material, consisting of 23 modules that can be adapted to conduct an effective and comprehensive training on the essentials for civil registration and vital statistics systems. The modules addresses a range of issues related to the establishment, operation and maintenance of reliable civil registration and vital statistics systems.

This Handbook provides guidance to countries for the improvement of their civil registration and vital statistics systems and background and specifications for developing and establishing civil registration and vital statistics systems in countries that do not yet have such systems in place. The Handbook deals with essential components of structure, management, operation and maintenance functions to handle the entire range of vital events-live births, deaths, foetal deaths, marriages and dissolutions of marriage- from the civil registration and the vital statistics perspectives.

This capacity-building tool has been produced by the Health Information Systems Knowledge Hub of the School of Population Health at the University of Queensland. This handbook aims to guide doctors in filling out death certificates. This handbook is designed to be a readily accessible resource that doctors can consult rapidly and easily. These are generic guidelines about how to certify the cause of death, written for doctors and medical students, particularly in developing countries.

This document highlights the importance of death registration in Africa and presents the status of death registration, what is currently being done and recommendations for improvement.

Short explanation of methodology and sources for the calculation the coverage and quality of birth and death registration data.

The CoDEdit tool is intended to help producers of cause-of-death statistics to strengthen their capacity in performing routine checks on their data in order to minimize errors. While the CoDEdit tool is applied at data compilation stage, its primary purpose is to warn and flag basic gross errors, alert about possible misuse of codes and finally provide a summary of the data set.

The section on the cause of death on the death certificate is identical worldwide. It has two parts - called Part I and Part II, and a section to record the time interval between the onset of each condition and the date of death.
Part I - is used for diseases or conditions that form part of the sequence of events leading directly to death.
Part II - is used for conditions which have no direct connection with the events leading to death but whose presence contributed to death.