World Health Statistics, 2017 have been released by global health body, saying that countries have made improvements in recording the causes of death.
World Health Organization (WHO) reported that almost half of global deaths have been recorded with a cause, and highlighted the improvements made by countries with regard to collecting vital statistics. // Of the estimated 56 million deaths globally in 2015, at least 27 million were registered with a cause of death, WHO said.
‘China, Turkey and Iran are the three countries that recorded 90 percent of deaths with detailed information on the cause of death.’
The global health body which released its World Health Statistics, 2017 report said the improvement showed nations were monitoring progress towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Among the countries which have shown tremendous improvement towards showing reasons behind deaths are China, Turkey and Iran, where 90 percent deaths were recorded with detailed cause-of-death information, compared to only five percent in 1999.
"If countries don't know what makes people get sick and die, it's a lot harder to know what to do about it," said Marie-Paule Kieny, WHO Assistant Director-General for Health Systems and Innovation.
In 2005, only about a third of deaths had a recorded cause.
Incomplete or incorrect information on the registered deaths reduce the usefulness of those data for tracking public health trends, planning measures to improve health, and evaluating whether policies are working.
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While the quality of health data has improved significantly in recent years, many countries still do not routinely collect high-quality data to monitor health-related SDG indicators.
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Ten measures of essential health service coverage have improved since 2000. Coverage of treatment for HIV and bed nets to prevent malaria have increased the most, from very low levels in 2000.
"Steady increases have also been seen in access to antenatal care and improved sanitation, while gains in routine child immunization coverage from 2000 to 2010 slowed somewhat between 2010 and 2015," the data said.
Source-IANS