Abstract
The lack of reliable vital statistics raises questions about the role of the health information system in acquiring such data, which are essential for planning health services and for the general management of the population’s needs. This study analyzed completeness of the vital data registration system and assessed the potential contribution of a community worker net-work to this system in rural Benin. The capture-recapture method was used in this interventional study to estimate the number of live births from three sources: the Routine Health Information System, the municipality, and community workers in two groups of villages. Log linear modelling was carried out with a Bayesian Information Criterion-weighted estimate of the number of live births. The exhaustiveness of the Routine Health Information System was improved by the contribution of the community workers from 29.3% to 42.5% in the first group, and from 61.7% to 77.5% in the second group. Estimating live births by the capture method in rural settings based on the contribution of community workers could be a more efficient alternative to censuses in acquiring reliable vital statistics.
Highlights
To ensure the population’s health, and to efficiently plan for healthcare needs, governments must have comprehensive and reliable demographic data
According to estimates made on the basis of the last population census, 170 live births were expected in group 1 and 77 live births were expected in group 2 for the period covered by the study; the rate of health service use for childbirth was 43.2% in group 1 and 80.3% in group 2 [26]
We evaluated the dependency of the sources on each other with odds ratios (OR) and with their confidence interval at 95% (CI95%) [28,29]
Summary
To ensure the population’s health, and to efficiently plan for healthcare needs, governments must have comprehensive and reliable demographic data. In this respect, vital statistics are essential. Health Information Systems (HIS) play a key role in providing this information due to the fact that they are best placed in relation to vital events such as births and deaths. Routine Health Information Systems (RHIS), information derived at regular intervals from mechanisms designed to meet predictive information needs, should be capable of providing this information [2,3]. Reliable information concerning maternal and infant mortality is needed to be able to assess the level of achievement of the MDGs [2,4]
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