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Civil Registration and Vital Statistics: A Unique Source of Data for Policy

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The Palgrave Handbook of Global Health Data Methods for Policy and Practice

Abstract

AbouZahr, Mathenge, Sejersen and Macfarlane introduce the civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) system, the routine administrative system that officially registers, certifies, aggregates and reports key events in the lives of individuals—notably births, deaths, marriages, divorces and adoptions. They explain that CRVS generates legal evidence of a person’s existence with name, family relations and civil status, and provides key demographic and health indicators including rates of fertility, mortality and population growth for all administrative areas of a country. The authors describe how a CRVS system functions and emphasize that CRVS is the most effective and efficient source of national and sub-national population data for policymaking for all sectors but particularly for public health. They point out that many low- and middle-income countries require additional financial and technical support to maintain fully functioning CRVS systems.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. CAZ Consulting Sarl, Bloomberg Data for Health Initiative, Geneva, Switzerland

    Carla AbouZahr

  2. The Pacific Community, Statistics for Development Division, Noumea, New Caledonia

    Gloria Mathenge

  3. United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok, Thailand

    Tanja Brøndsted Sejersen

  4. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Medicine, and Institute for Global Health Sciences, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Sarah B. Macfarlane

Authors
  1. Carla AbouZahr
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  2. Gloria Mathenge
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  3. Tanja Brøndsted Sejersen
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  4. Sarah B. Macfarlane
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics School of Medicine, and Institute for Global Health Sciences, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Sarah B. Macfarlane

  2. CAZ Consulting Sarl, Bloomberg Data for Health Initiative, Geneva, Switzerland

    Carla AbouZahr

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AbouZahr, C., Mathenge, G., Brøndsted Sejersen, T., Macfarlane, S.B. (2019). Civil Registration and Vital Statistics: A Unique Source of Data for Policy. In: Macfarlane, S., AbouZahr, C. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Global Health Data Methods for Policy and Practice. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-54984-6_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-54984-6_7

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-54983-9

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