(Newsletter October 2023)

Last August, Cambodia established a Technical Working Group comprising of the National Institute of Statistics (NIS) and the Ministry of Health (MOH), with a mission to enhance fetal death data collection, quality, and reporting.

Vital Strategies, under the Data for Health Initiative, has been a key partner in supporting Cambodia's adoption of the Medically Certified Cause of Death (MCCD) standard and the development of a digitized system, which not only facilitates fetal death data collection but also captures birth and death events at health facilities and MCCD data. This system, completed in March 2023, aligns with the MOH-NIS system for stillbirths and the civil registration system for birth and death notifications, with plans for full integration into existing health information systems.

The new CRVS ID law, approved in July, has now mandated nationwide fetal death data collection and sharing between the MOH and NIS. With continued support from Vital Strategies, Cambodia is preparing to introduce the new fetal death data collection form digitized system at health facilities in 2023 and 2024.