Abstract
The government of Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR) is currently in the preparation stage of a 5-year project that will establish an electronic civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) system. The authors of this paper adapted a framework for economic analysis developed by Jimenez-Soto et al. (Jimenez-Soto et al., PLoS ONE 9(8): e106234, 2014) to assess the cost-effectiveness of producing vital statistics in Lao PDR using data from a complete electronic CRVS system, compared to using data from other sources, such as the 2015 Population and Housing Census and the 2017 Lao Social Indicator Survey (LSIS). Of 20 types of vital statistics (including birth statistics, fertility rates, and death statistics), a complete and accurate CRVS system can produce all 20 of these vital statistics, while the 2015 Census can produce 17, and the 2017 LSIS and the current civil registration system can produce 4 each. A cost-effectiveness analysis of different data sources for producing vital statistics over a 20-year projection showed that a complete and accurate CRVS system ranked best, followed by population census and population-based survey. In addition to enabling vital statistics to be produced cost-effectively, a robust civil registration system would also support improving the efficiency of public service delivery, leading to further cost savings for the country.
Highlights
As data are mined to inform evidence-based decisionmaking in both the private and public sectors, one data source with untapped development potential in low- and middle-income countries has been civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS)
Data collected through civil registration -- the universal, continuous, permanent, and compulsory recording of vital events occurring in a country’s population according to the legal requirements of each country [1]-- are used to compile vital statistics defined as the collection of statistics on vital events in a lifetime of a person as well as relevant characteristics of the events themselves and of the person and persons concerned [2]
Identifying the alternative sources of data to be evaluated The current sources of data for producing vital statistics in Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR) are population census and population-based survey
Summary
Background As data are mined to inform evidence-based decisionmaking in both the private and public sectors, one data source with untapped development potential in low- and middle-income countries has been civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS). As Jimenez-Soto et al [8] pointed out, a systematic framework for assessing the costs and benefits of the various data sources for producing vital statistics had been lacking. They proposed a systematic framework for such an assessment to inform investment decisions on the instruments for collecting data. The framework has not been tested in a real country
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