(Newsletter: CRVS Insight September (2) 2022)

The second expert forum on disaster-related statistics was held on 6-8 September 2022, organised by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) and several partners.

This forum's key objective was to emphasize the significance of establishing mechanisms to enable national and international collaboration and coordination of disaster-related statistics work across disciplines and organizations. It also aimed to advance a common framework for disaster-related statistics by forming a network of experts to maintain collaboration, coordination and fundraising for improving statistics on hazardous events and disasters. 

During session 2: Lessons learned on using data to save lives during pandemics: Global lessons learned and related WHO work on improving data, Steve MacFeely, Director, Data and Analytics, WHO presented on the key role for  CRVS and mortality surveillance in disaster risk reduction. 

WHO has estimated global excess deaths associated with COVID-19 from Jan 2020 to Dec 2021, to more than 14.91 million deaths while only 5.42 million were reported. The  importance of CRVS (and mortality surveillance), and general investment in data infrastructure are needed for all countries to build up essential analytical capacity in preparation for future crises.