• 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.

 

 

Read the midterm report

 

Mortality coding

Mortality coding involves transforming information on death certificates into alpha-numeric codes. This allows for the tabulation and aggregation of mortality statistics for monitoring population health. As part of the Bloomberg Philanthropies Data for Health (D4H) Initiative, countries will be provided with guidance and advice on how to implement or improve mortality coding according to ICD-10 coding rules.

Medical certification of cause of death

Certification is the process doctors use to determine underlying cause of death. Improved certification practices ensure that decision-makers have accurate information on what people are dying from. Activities to improve certification include: establishing national mortality committees; introducing the international form of medical certificate of cause of death; training courses and curriculum.

Improving registration practices

CRVS systems encompass the registration of births and deaths and the generation of vital statistics from these events. Improving registration practices provides a range of benefits. As part of the D4H initiative, countries will be supported to improve birth and death notification and registration through: use of enterprise architecture; establishing committees; reviewing legislation and regulations; and implementing standard collection forms.

Improving registration- best practice guidelines

Registration practices refer to all the actions that need to take place from the notification of an event, to its registration with the appropriate civil registry authorities, through to the issue of a certified document. Examples of best practice for birth and death registration include making it a legal requirement to register; no fee for registration; and clearly defining roles and responsibilities of various agents.

Improving CRVS system design

Enterprise architecture (EA) is a systems science tool that produces business process maps. It helps describe, understand, analyse, compare and visualise the organisation, processes, workflows and functionality of a CRVS system. As part of the Bloomberg Philanthropies Data for Health (D4H) Initiative and in close collaboration with the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH), training on business process mapping will be offered to all D4H countries as a fundamental intervention.

Automated verbal autopsy

When people die at home or in areas without doctors, it is difficult to know what they died from. Verbal autopsy provides a systematic way of collecting information from close friends or family on the signs and symptoms of someone before they died to determine a probable cause of death.

Medical certificate of cause of death assessment tool

This tool is designed to assess the quality of death certification practices through checking for the presence of common errors in death certificates. This can be used to assess the quality of death certification as part of routine assessment, or to assess the training needs of doctors in designing cause of death certification training. This tool can also be used to evaluate the effectiveness of death certification training.

Improving the quality of cause of death data in hospitals

This document provides guidance on how to improve the quality of cause of death data in hospitals, and will be useful for Ministry of Health staff, hospital administrators and managers, medical society officers, medical education leaders, and physicians. It will also be of interest to stakeholders involved in planning and strengthening civil registration and vital statistics systems, as it provides overall guidance on the steps required in improving hospital data.

CRVS D4H course prospectus

Improving national capacity, skills and knowledge is a critical component of any strategy to strengthen a CRVS system. As part of the D4H Initiative, six training courses are available, with more under development. These courses are currently only open to those countries enrolled as part of the D4H Initiative.

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