Evaluation of civil registration and vital statistics system in the Maldives: Focus on mortality statistics

Abstract

An efficient Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) system is a development imperative. Data on death registration and causes of death are important for measuring health outcomes. This paper evaluates the completeness and quality of data on death registration and causes of death (CoD) based on analysis of the registration records on death and causes of death for the period 2009–2018. Using established methods and approaches, we observed that CRVS system performed well on death registration completeness, quality of age and sex reporting. However, the quality of cause of death data was poor with 50% of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes classified as “major garbage codes” and significant time lag was observed in the transmission and production of vital statistics. The CRVS system in Maldives is complete with all deaths occurring within its territory registered and causes of death recorded. The two areas that require attention are the time taken for publication of vital statistics and quality of cause of death reporting. Appropriate re-engineering of the existing business process can build real-time mortality data, and regular quality assessment of death certificates with feedback to health facilities can bring sustained improvements in quality of vital statistics.