Civil registration and vital statistics in health systems

Civil registration and vital statistics in health systems Debra Jackson, Kristen Wenz, Maria Muniz, Carla Abouzahr, Anneke Schmider, Martin W. Braschi, Nadya Kassam, Theresa Diaz, Remy Mwamba, Philip Setel & Samuel Mills a Health Section, United Nations Children’s Fund, 3 UN Plaza, New York 10017, United States of America (USA). b Child Protection Section, United Nations Children’s Fund, New York, USA. c Vital Strategies, New York, USA. d Bloomberg Data for Health Initiative, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia. e Strategic Policy UK Information Commission, London, England. f Maternal, Newborn Child and Adolescent Health Department, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland. g World Bank Group, Washington, DC, USA. Correspondence to Debra Jackson (email: djackson@unicef.org). (Submitted: 26 March 2018 – Revised version received: 2 July 2018 – Accepted: 6 July 2018 – Published online: 8 October 2018) Over the past decades, the health sector has forged a widespread network of health facilities and community health workers who carry out key public health interventions, aiming to reach the most marginalized populations with life-saving interventions. In many countries, health networks offer untapped potential to leverage health services for the notification and registration of births and deaths.