The Need to Address Fragmentation and Silos in Mortality Information Systems: The Case of Ghana and Peru
Date
2022
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
International Journal of Public Health
Abstract
Objectives: We aimed to understand the information architecture and degree of
integration of mortality surveillance systems in Ghana and Peru.
Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study using a combination of document
review and unstructured interviews to describe and analyse the sub-systems collecting
mortality data.
Results: We identified 18 and 16 information subsystems with independent databases
capturing death events in Peru and Ghana respectively. The mortality information
architecture was highly fragmented with a multiplicity of unconnected data silos and
with formal and informal data collection systems.
Conclusion: Reliable and timely information about who dies where and from what
underlying cause is essential to reporting progress on Sustainable Development Goals,
ensuring policies are responding to population health dynamics, and understanding the
impact of threats and events like the COVID-19 pandemic. Integrating systems hosted in
different parts of government remains a challenge for countries and limits the ability of
statistics systems to produce accurate and timely information. Our study exposes multiple
opportunities to improve the design of mortality surveillance systems by integrating existing
subsystems currently operating in silos.
Description
Research Article
Keywords
cause of death, mortality surveillanc, civil registration, vital statistics