Verbal Autopsy Process: The Ministry of Health conducts Verbal Autopsies (VA) for community deaths and Brought-In-Dead (BID) cases at health facilities equipped with mortuaries. Field mortality surveillance officers use the WHO’s Verbal Autopsy Questionnaire (Version 1.5.3) on Open Data Kit (KoboTool) to interview relatives or close associates of the deceased. This standardized tool ensures consistent and reliable data collection.
- Community Engagement: VA interviews are conducted after obtaining eligibility and consent from families.
- Cause of Death Assignment: Data collected during VA interviews is processed using algorithms like InterVA5, ePCVA, and InsilicoVA to determine probable causes of death and generate Cause-Specific Mortality Fractions (CSMFs).
- Routine Surveillance: The program integrates data from both hospital and community deaths to provide a holistic view of mortality patterns.
The Verbal Autopsy data undergoes quality checks and cleaning before analysis using software tools like OpenVA and R. The results are disseminated through dashboards and detailed reports.
