Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) for Population Health
The third course in the Strengthening Population Health Data Systems series offered by the Center for Global Digital Health Innovation focuses on civil registration and vital statistics systems. National CRVS systems record and track the births, deaths, and other vital life events of individuals in a country’s population. In this course, learners will explore the role and importance of systematically collecting and tracking CRVS data at the country level. Key approaches for CRVS data gathering are discussed as well as considerations for different subpopulations. The overarching goal for this course is to empower learners with the knowledge and skillset for using CRVS systems to accurately track trends, implement disease surveillance programs, plan interventions, and inform policy priorities for population health.
Key Course Learnings:
- Learn how CRVS systems work and the vital role these national recordkeeping tools play in global public health decision making
- Gain a solid foundation in CRVS global standards, best practices, and key approaches for gathering data and assessing their quality, including medical certification of cause of death (MCCOD) and verbal autopsies
- Discover how to implement accurate and efficient CRVS systems for capturing individual life events and monitoring mortality risk factors, especially those related to non-communicable diseases
- Understand the challenges in implementing robust national CRVS systems and ways to mitigate them
- Explore CRVS systems through a gender and equity lens, learning key considerations when tracking births, deaths, and other life events of women, children, LGBTI populations, refugees, and displaced persons
Course Audience:
- Public health practitioners, policy makers, and program managers whose work will benefit from a better understanding of how CRVS is essential for accurate population data tracking and decision making
- Digital health specialists, technology industry professionals, and MPH-degree holders who need to expand their knowledge base with information on the fundamentals of CRVS and their use in global public health
Learning Methods:
- Asynchronous online course that can be taken at the learner’s own pace
- Two modules that can be completed in 6 hours or less
- Video lectures, presentation slides, readings, and online assessments
- Real-world, applied learning examples of CRVS systems:
- Philippines, Rwanda and South Africa
- Focused on medical certification of cause of death (MCCOD)
Instructor Profiles:
- Taught by 21 civil registration and vital statistics data experts from around the world
- Practicing in various public health fields, such as epidemiology, vital statistics, mortality surveillance, global health security, health information systems, and health data quality
- Representing the Vital Strategies, CDC Foundation, Global Health Advocacy Incubator, University of New South Wales, Sydney, and Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Instructor profiles
Hafiz Chowdhury, MBBS, MSc, PhD
A medical doctor with postgraduate qualifications in community and international health, Dr. Hafiz Chowdhury is a Technical Advisor/Lead at the CDC Foundation with 12 years of experience in global health, focusing on civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) systems.
Sonja Firth, MPH
Sonja Firth is a Health Systems Specialist, with over 12 years of experience working in countries to implement evidence-based health system planning and to improve the quality of data used for health programming. She is currently working at the CDC Foundation.
Saman Gamage, MD, MBBS, MSC
Dr. Saman Gamage, a Senior Technical Advisor at the CDC Foundation for the Bloomberg Philanthropies' Data for Health Initiative, focuses his teaching and research on three areas: improving medical certification of cause of death, the International Classification of Diseases manual, and automated coding and health systems research on enhancing the quality of mortality data.
Olga Joos, DrPH, MPH, BSN
Dr. Olga Joos is a nurse and public health expert in CRVS system strengthening with a focus on medico-legal death investigation system strengthening, stillbirth registration, and cause of death data quality and system improvements. She is a Senior Technical Advisor at the CDC Foundation within the Global Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Team.
Rohina Joshi, MBBS, MPH, PhD
Dr. Rohina Joshi, is an Associate Professor, Scientia Fellow, National Heart Foundation Future Leader Fellow, and the Global Health Research Lead at the School of Population Health, University of New South Wales, Sydney. Her research aims to strengthen the health workforce as well as health information systems in order to deliver quality health care.
Chen Lei, MCTM, MD
Dr. Chen Lei is a Technical Advisor in the Data Impact and CRVS Programs at Vital Strategies under the Bloomberg Philanthropies' Data for Health Initiative.
Farnaz Malik, MPH
Farnaz Malik is an epidemiologist who currently serves as a Technical Advisor on the Data Impact Program within the Bloomberg Philanthropies' Data for Health Initiative at Vital Strategies. She manages data impact projects in Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. She also leads the collaborative work between the CRVS Improvement and the Data Impact Programs.
Fatima Marinho, MD, MPH, PhD
Dr. Fatima Marinho is a Professor at the University of Minas Gerais and a Senior Advisor with Vital Strategies.
Robert Mswia, MSc, PhD
Dr. Robert Mswia is a Principal Technical Advisor in the CRVS Improvement Program at Vital Strategies, with a focus on routine application of verbal autopsy methods.
Brian Munkmombwe, MSc, PhD
Dr. Brian Munkombwe is currently a Health Scientist with the CDC at the National Center for Health Statistics where he works on mortality statistics analysis for the International Statistics Program. He also serves as a technical lead for the Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Data for Health Initiative, supporting Zambia and Lesotho to improve their civil registration and vital statistics systems.
James Mwanza, MSc, PhD
Dr. James Mwanza is a public health specialist and a CRVS Regional Deputy Director for Africa at Vital Strategies.
Godfrey Ngoboka, MSc
Mr. Godfrey Ngoboka is a CRVS Manager for Vital Strategies in Rwanda, working on the Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Data for Health Initiative. He focuses on strengthening the CRVS system and building robust mortality surveillance systems.
Mosidi Nhiapo, MPhil, PhD
Dr. Mosidi Nhiapo is the Director of Births and Deaths Statistics at Statistics South Africa.
Erin Nichols, MPH, PhD
Dr. Erin Nichols is an Epidemiologist with the CDC at the National Center for Health Statistics.
Sam Notzon, MS, MA, PhD
As a Senior Advisor to the CDC Foundation, Dr. Sam Notzon provides technical assistance on CRVS to developing countries.
Beatriz Plaza, MPH
Beatriz Plaza is a Senior Technical Advisor in the CRVS Program at Vital Strategies. She is a global health development professional with expertise in health information systems as well as experience in global health security, International Health Regulations (IHR), and Joint External Evaluation (JEE).