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2025 review of CRVS progress in Asia and the Pacific

Members and Associate Members of ESCAP are currently undertaking a review of their progress since the inception of the Asia Pacific CRVS Decade in 2014. A questionnaire has been distributed to National CRVS focal points and should be returned to ESCAP by 15 September.
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2024 Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Applied Research Training Initiative

The CRVS applied research training (CART) initiative focuses on enhancing CRVS systems through supporting applied research on strategies, interventions, and tools. This involves designing projects to address practical questions, employing robust methodologies, and identifying key personnel for effective implementation and publication. The need to strengthen practitioners' research capacity is evident, as highlighted in the Asia-Pacific CRVS research forum held in 2023.

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Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems Improvement Framework

To meet the targets of the CRVS Decade, a Business Process Improvement approach can help improve and streamline Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) system. The CRVS Systems Improvement Framework help CRVS stakeholders assess, analyze and redesign, to improve user experience and produce timely vital statistics.

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Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Inequality Assessments

The Ministerial Declaration on CRVS in Asia and the Pacific emphasizes the need to address CRVS inequalities among hard-to-reach and marginalized populations, promoting universality and equity in civil registration regardless of factors such as gender, religion, or ethnicity. Countries are encouraged to conduct assessments to assess where such inequalities may exist.

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Follow CRVS news in Asia and the Pacific by subscribing to the CRVS Insight Newsletter

The CRVS community in Asia and the Pacific has reflected on where it stands at the midpoint of the CRVS Decade (2015-2024) during the Second Ministerial Conference. Following this celebration of progress, many of our partners and member countries are leading actions to fill the remaining gaps.

To learn more about CRVS in Asia and the Pacific, please subscribe to our newsletter, which offers a monthly panorama of CRVS actions throughout the region

Previous editions can be found here.

Maldives Stakeholder Workshop

A two-day consultative stakeholder workshop on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics was held in the Maldives between 14 – 16 December 2018. The main objective was to investigate the different systems that record vital events in the country and how the systems can be centrally integrated to address the challenges faced in the Central VRS database. The deliberations went for two days among stakeholders and included the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Local Government Authority (LGA), Department of National Registration (DNR), Ministry of Health (MoH), National Information and Communication Technology (NCIT) and the main hospital. National Bureau of Statistics(NBS) took the initiative in carrying forward the consultative process. The meeting concluded with a follow-up meeting after one week with NCIT reporting on the practicality of DNR doing data entry in the system established at the island council level. The work plan for 2019 was also discussed at the follow-up meeting.

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Workshop on Communication and Dissemination of Vital Statistics Data

Bangkok, Thailand For the concluding activity of the collaborative ESCAP-Vital Strategies project to strengthen national capacities in producing and disseminating vital statistics from civil registration records, ESCAP again partnered with Vital Strategies, an international NGO implementing the Data For Health (D4H) Initiative, from 10 - 14 December 2018, to facilitate effective communication of vital statistics data to policy-makers, academics, and the general public. https://www.getinthepicture.org/resource/presentations-and-working-sessi...

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Presentations and Working Session Documents for the Workshop on Communication and Dissemination of Vital Statistics Data

10 - 14 December 2018 Bangkok, Thailand

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Vital Strategies Training Program: Effective Use of Data in Public Health Journalism - Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) Bangkok, Thailand, January 29-31 2019

Effective Use of Data in Public Health Journalism - CRVS As data become more prevalent and accessible, good reporting on public health challenges – at the community, national, and global levels – increasingly requires journalists who can: • understand and assess the validity of various types of health data; • discover trends and patterns in those data; and • communicate findings from data to their audience clearly, succinctly, and accurately. Program Description This 3-day workshop will build the data use skills of a select group of journalist to develop stories related to Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS). The training will provide a detailed overview of CRVS – what it is and why it is important – and build skills related to data use in reporting. Topics covered: common data related terms and concepts; primary sources of public health data; basic methods for analyzing, interpreting, and visualizing public health data; and effective tactics for interviewing public health experts about data-rich topics. Participants will be mentored to develop a CRVS related data story for publication. Dates: The program will be held from January 29-31, 2019. Schedule: January 28 (Monday) Participants arrive. January 29-31 (Tuesday-Thursday) Participants complete 3 days of practical training. February 1 (Friday) Participants depart. Attendees: 22 mid- to senior-level journalists who (a) work for established media outlets in Bangladesh, Mumbai, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and Shanghai; (b) have previously produced stories on public health topics; and (c) have a specific idea for a data-rich public health story they want to develop. (NOTE: The journalist’s media house must provide a letter of support and indicate its commitment to publish the story.) Attendees must bring a laptop. Language: Program sessions will be held in English. Journalists who are multi-lingual and report in local languages and are fluent in English are encouraged to attend. Sponsor: Vital Strategies, an international NGO, is presenting this program as part of its Bloomberg Philanthropies Data for Health Initiative. Financial Support to Attendees: Vital Strategies will arrange and pay for participants’ travel to and from Bangkok, as well as lodging while there. It will also provide a per diem stipend to cover meals and other incidental costs during the training program and the conference. JOURNALISTS INTERESTED IN THIS TRAINING PROGRAM SHOULD CLICK ON THIS LINK TO COMPLETE AN APPLICATION APPLICATIONS DUE BY DECEMBER 1, 2018

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Goals

The goals and targets of the Regional Action Framework offer measurable outcomes for reflecting national progress in achieving the shared vision that all people in Asia and the Pacific benefit from universal and responsive CRVS systems.

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WHO-SEARO's NCD surveillance and partners forum

Between 17 – 19 September, at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand, World Health Organization Regional office for South-East Asia convened global health experts to discuss non-communicable disease surveillance and monitoring in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as create a new partners forum for sharing information and building consensus to tackle cross-border issues. ESCAP Stats Division staff attended the meeting to support the creation of the new partners forum, make the case that collecting cause of death data from CRVS systems can strengthen monitoring efforts, as well as publicize development partner activity in the region that is supporting these efforts.

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Maximizing Synergies between Health Observatories and CRVS: Guidance for INDEPTH HDSS Sites and CRVS Stakeholders

It is ironic that two major data intensive enterprises—national Civil Registration & Vital Statistics (CRVS) systems and population & health observatories such as Health and Demographic Surveillance Systems (HDSS) or Sample Vital Registration with Verbal Autopsy (SAVVY) systems monitor the same vital events (births, deaths, and causes of death) among the same populations in the same countries yet rarely collaborate, remain largely unknown to each other, and analyse and utilise their data in different ways and for different purposes. As a consequence, birth and death surveillance expertise and data frequently remain locked in separate national silos. More worrisome, key analytical findings from the population and health observatories are not seen as an integral part of the fabric of either the national health information systems or the CRVS systems. This is not an either/or issue. Low and some middle-income countries need both an increasingly strong CRVS system and population and health observatories that are collaborating and working synergistically. This document makes the case for this and describes ways in which such collaboration can work to strengthen CRVS.

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On the Road to Universal Health Coverage: Every Person Matters

In modern society, the possession of a personal official identification (ID) is critical to an individual’s access to government services, and social and economic programs. From voting to receipt of social benefits, the possession of an official ID determines whether or not an individual may fully exercise his or her rights as a citizen. For low- and middle-income countries, the widespread lack of such an ID is a significant stumbling block to economic growth and the development of solid social protection.

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The Fourth Meeting of the Regional Steering Group

The Regional Steering Group is responsible for providing regional oversight and guidance for the implementation of the Regional Action Framework on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics in Asia and the Pacific, as well as acting as the custodian of the Asia and Pacific CRVS Decade (2015 - 2024). Comprising 22 representatives from member states, along with 8 development partners, the 30 members of the RSG represent a balance of geography and sectors including civil registration, statistics, health and planning, and was endorsed by the ESCAP Commission at its seventy-first session in May 2015. The group has met annually since its establishment in 2015 and will do so for a fourth time between 13 - 15 November 2018, in Bangkok, Thailand. The Fourth Meeting will address, among other topics, the template and guidelines which will drive the midterm reporting process for countries during 2019, preparatory work for the Ministerial Conference in 2020, and the working arrangements of the RSG.

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CRVS transition

Today the CRVS team in the Statistics Division is saying farewell to someone who made up a vital part of our operations. Hong Pum Chung, otherwise known as HP to his friends and colleagues, will be leaving UN ESCAP and heading for the Peacekeeping Forces situated in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Speaking on behalf of the CRVS team, HP's contribution to developing ESCAP's regional CRVS activities was absolutely critical and his impact will continue being felt for quite some time. Thank you HP and we all wish you well in your new venture. For those partners and countries communicating directly with HP, please direct all emails to [email protected] and our team will respond accordingly. For any questions about this transition, please do not hesitate to contact the CRVS team at either the email above or call +66 2288 2409.