African Evaluation Database

5084

Source

Scopus

Electronic ID

2-s2.0-84886256329

Authors

Leitao J., Chandramohan D., Byass P., Jakob R., Bundhamcharoen K., Choprapawon C., de Savigny D., Fottrell E., França E., Frøen F., Gewaifel G., Hodgson A., Hounton S., Kahn K., Krishnan A., Kumar V., Masanja H., Nichols E., Notzon F., Rasooly M.H., Sanko

Title

Revising the WHO verbal autopsy instrument to facilitate routine cause-of-death monitoring

Publication Year

2013

Source Title

Global Health Action

Volume

Issue

Citations

DOI

10.3402/gha.v6i0.21518

URL

https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84886256329&partnerID=40&md5=0e092f514d86182282b3832f86230815

Affiliations

Disease Control and Vector Biology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom; WHO Collaborating Centre for Verbal Autopsy, Division of Epidemiology and Global Health, Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden; Health Information and Statistics, WHO, 20 Av Appia, CH-1211, Geneva, Switzerland; International Health Policy Program, Thailand Ministry of Public Health, Nonthaburi, Thailand; Health Policy and Strategic Bureau, Ministry of Public Health, Nonthaburi, Thailand; Public Health and Health Systems, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland; UCL Centre for International Health and Development, Institute of Child Health, London, United Kingdom; Epidemiology and Health Evaluation Faculty of Medicine, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Minas Gerais, Brazil; Genes and Environment Division of Epidemiology, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway; Faculty of Medicine, University of Alexandria, Alexandria, Egypt; Health Research and Development Division, Ghana Health Serfice, Accra, Ghana; Headquarter, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), New York, United States; MRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt), School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa; Centre for Community Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India; Uttar Pradesh Center, Community Empowerment Lab, Uttar Pradesh, India; Ifakara Health Institute, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; International Statistics Division, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Hyattsville, United States; Afghan Public Health Institute, Afghanistan Ministry of Public Health, Kabul, Afghanistan; INDEPTH Network Secretariat, INDEPTH Network, Accra, Ghana; Public Health and HIV Section, The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Geneva, Switzerland; Independent Consultant, Health Metrics Network, Geneva, Switzerland; Monitoring of Vital Events, Health Metrics Network, Geneva, Switzerland; Health Information and Analysis, Pan American Health Organization, Washington, DC, United States; Division of Health Systems and Services Development, WHO Regional Office, for the Eastern Mediterranean, Cairo, Egypt; Health Information, Evidence and Research Policy, WHO Regional Office for Europe, Kobenhavn, Denmark; Evidence-Based Health Situation and Trends Assessment, WHO Regional Office for the South Eastern Region, New Dehli, India; Health Information, Evidence and Research Policy, WHO Regional Office for Western Pacific, Manila, Philippines; Mediterranean Centre for Health Risk Reduction, WHO, Geneva, Switzerland; Department of Child and Adolescent Health and Development WHO, Geneva, Switzerland; Department of Violence and Injury Prevention and Disability, WHO, Geneva, Switzerland; Health, Statistics and Informatics, WHO, Geneva, Switzerland; Classification, Terminology and Standards Unit, WHO, Geneva, Switzerland; Department of Reproductive Health and Research, WHO, Geneva, Switzerland; Child and Adolescent Health and Development, WHO, Geneva, Switzerland; Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health, WHO, Geneva, Switzerland

Authors with Affiliations

Leitao, J., Disease Control and Vector Biology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom; Chandramohan, D., Disease Control and Vector Biology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom; Byass, P., WHO Collaborating Centre for Verbal Autopsy, Division of Epidemiology and Global Health, Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden; Jakob, R., Health Information and Statistics, WHO, 20 Av Appia, CH-1211, Geneva, Switzerland; Bundhamcharoen, K., International Health Policy Program, Thailand Ministry of Public Health, Nonthaburi, Thailand; Choprapawon, C., Health Policy and Strategic Bureau, Ministry of Public Health, Nonthaburi, Thailand; de Savigny, D., Public Health and Health Systems, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland; Fottrell, E., UCL Centre for International Health and Development, Institute of Child Health, London, United Kingdom; França, E., Epidemiology and Health Evaluation Faculty of Medicine, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Minas Gerais, Brazil; Frøen, F., Genes and Environment Division of Epidemiology, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway; Gewaifel, G., Faculty of Medicine, University of Alexandria, Alexandria, Egypt; Hodgson, A., Health Research and Development Division, Ghana Health Serfice, Accra, Ghana; Hounton, S., Headquarter, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), New York, United States; Kahn, K., MRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt), School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa; Krishnan, A., Centre for Community Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India; Kumar, V., Uttar Pradesh Center, Community Empowerment Lab, Uttar Pradesh, India; Masanja, H., Ifakara Health Institute, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; Nichols, E., International Statistics Division, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Hyattsville, United States; Notzon, F., International Statistics Division, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Hyattsville, United States; Rasooly, M.H., Afghan Public Health Institute, Afghanistan Ministry of Public Health, Kabul, Afghanistan; Sankoh, O., INDEPTH Network Secretariat, INDEPTH Network, Accra, Ghana; Spiegel, P., Public Health and HIV Section, The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Geneva, Switzerland; AbouZahr, C., Independent Consultant, Health Metrics Network, Geneva, Switzerland; Amexo, M., Monitoring of Vital Events, Health Metrics Network, Geneva, Switzerland; Kebede, D., Health Information and Analysis, Pan American Health Organization, Washington, DC, United States; Alley, W.S., Health Information and Analysis, Pan American Health Organization, Washington, DC, United States; Marinho, F., Health Information and Analysis, Pan American Health Organization, Washington, DC, United States; Ali, M., Division of Health Systems and Services Development, WHO Regional Office, for the Eastern Mediterranean, Cairo, Egypt; Loyola, E., Health Information, Evidence and Research Policy, WHO Regional Office for Europe, Kobenhavn, Denmark; Chikersal, J., Evidence-Based Health Situation and Trends Assessment, WHO Regional Office for the South Eastern Region, New Dehli, India; Gao, J., Health Information, Evidence and Research Policy, WHO Regional Office for Western Pacific, Manila, Philippines; Annunziata, G., Mediterranean Centre for Health Risk Reduction, WHO, Geneva, Switzerland; Bahl, R., Department of Child and Adolescent Health and Development WHO, Geneva, Switzerland; Bartolomeus, K., Department of Violence and Injury Prevention and Disability, WHO, Geneva, Switzerland; Boerma, T., Health, Statistics and Informatics, WHO, Geneva, Switzerland; Ustun, B., Classification, Terminology and Standards Unit, WHO, Geneva, Switzerland; Chou, D., Department of Reproductive Health and Research, WHO, Geneva, Switzerland; Muhe, L., Child and Adolescent Health and Development, WHO, Geneva, Switzerland; Mathai, M., Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health, WHO, Geneva, Switzerland

Abstract

Objective: Verbal autopsy (VA) is a systematic approach for determining causes of death (CoD) in populations without routine medical certification. It has mainly been used in research contexts and involved relatively lengthy interviews. Our objective here is to describe the process used to shorten, simplify, and standardise the VA process to make it feasible for application on a larger scale such as in routine civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) systems. Methods: A literature review of existing VA instruments was undertaken. The World Health Organization (WHO) then facilitated an international consultation process to review experiences with existing VA instruments, including those from WHO, the Demographic Evaluation of Populations and their Health in Developing Countries (INDEPTH) Network, InterVA, and the Population Health Metrics Research Consortium (PHMRC). In an expert meeting, consideration was given to formulating a workable VA CoD list [with mapping to the International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) CoD] and to the viability and utility of existing VA interview questions, with a view to undertaking systematic simplification. Findings: A revised VA CoD list was compiled enabling mapping of all ICD-10 CoD onto 62 VA cause categories, chosen on the grounds of public health significance as well as potential for ascertainment from VA. A set of 221 indicators for inclusion in the revised VA instrument was developed on the basis of accumulated experience, with appropriate skip patterns for various population sub-groups. The duration of a VA interview was reduced by about 40% with this new approach. Conclusions: The revised VA instrument resulting from this consultation process is presented here as a means of making it available for widespread use and evaluation. It is envisaged that this will be used in conjunction with automated models for assigning CoD from VA data, rather than involving physicians. © 2013 Jordana Leitao et al.

Author Keywords

Cause of death; Civil registration; InterVA; Verbal autopsy; Vital registration; Vital statistics; World health organization

Index Keywords

article; autopsy; cause of death; civil registration; developing country; health survey; human; InterVA; methodology; questionnaire; reproducibility; standard; verbal autopsy; vital registration; vital statistics; world health organization; autopsy; health survey; procedures; standards; cause of death; civil registration; InterVA; verbal autopsy; vital registration; vital statistics; World Health Organization; Autopsy; Cause of Death; Developing Countries; Humans; Population Surveillance; Questionnaires; Reproducibility of Results; Vital Statistics; World Health Organization; Autopsy; Cause of Death; Developing Countries; Humans; Population Surveillance; Questionnaires; Reproducibility of Results; Vital Statistics; World Health Organization

Funding Details

None