Guidance for Collection and Processing of Cause-of-Death Data in the Civil Registration and Vital Statistics System

This guide aims to help governments achieve complete death registration, with accurate cause of death information, in order to generate timely mortality statistics for use in public health interventions and policy-making.

It describes good practices for the collection, sharing and use of cause-of-death (COD) data in civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) systems.

The target audience includes decision-makers, planners, and other managers at ministries of health, national statistics agencies, and civil registration agencies in countries aiming to improve their processes and routine standard operations to collect, process, and increase the completeness and quality of cause-of-death data and to use the data to monitor and enhance population health.