Assessment of the completeness of death registration and estimation of national and subnational mortality in Nepal - Dr Surender Prasad Pandey
Timely and quality mortality data provide important evidence to inform health policy and monitor the progress of local and national development goals. In Nepal, a civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) system has operated for several decades. However, the system’s focus has been on legal and administrative aspects and no vital statistics have been produced from its data. Censuses and surveys collect mortality data, but they focus on early age mortality while adult mortality data suffer from quality and completeness issues. There is hence limited information about mortality in Nepal and reliance on model-based estimates provided by the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study and the United Nations (UN). This thesis aims to fill this knowledge gap in Nepal by assessing the completeness and quality of national mortality data sources, estimating the key national and subnational mortality indicators, assessing differentials in death registration completeness by socio-economic, demographic, and geographical characteristics and identifying the main barriers and enablers for death registration.