Bangladesh’s Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) has published the country’s first-ever national mortality reports, drawing on data from the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD) (2019–2023) and Verbal Autopsy (2023) systems.
Enabled by the expansion of MCCD to 594 hospitals, the findings highlight a major shift in public health: non-communicable diseases now account for the majority of deaths, with 68% in communities and 57% in facilities, while child mortality remains a concern, with 18% of facility deaths among children under five.
DGHS Director General Prof. Dr. Md. Abu Jafor emphasized the importance of comprehensive mortality data for health system reform during the launch. The reports also note challenges in data quality and gender disparities in death reporting.
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(Photo credit: UNHCR)
