National Health Information System and Mortality Surveillance in Cameroon: Case of the Yaoundé Emergency Center
Keywords:
Causes of death, Certification, National statisticsAbstract
Purpose: Improvements in life expectancy are based on population morbidity and mortality data. The initial cause of death is of public health interest. The aim of this study was to describe the causes of death at the Yaoundé Emergency Centre (CURY). Research problem: Mortality data in Africa are poorly informed. Policies and programs use reliable data on the health of populations to improve their health. The main question is whether the introduction of medical certification of causes of death (MCCD) initiated a few years ago could improve national death statistics. Methods: A retrospective descriptive study was carried out at the CURY from July 2021 to December 2022. This is one of the pilot sites for the implementation of the MCCD in Cameroon. All deaths recorded at the health facility during this period were included. The main data collection tools used were complete death declaration and certification forms and departmental death registries. For analysis, the data were extracted from DHIS2. Ethical considerations were taken into account.
Results: A total of 967 deaths were recorded during the study period. The monthly average was 54 deaths or 5% of admissions. For analysis, 502/513 (97.05%) deaths were recorded in DHIS2. The mean age was 50.81 years (0-103 years). The sex ratio was 1.36 in favor of males. Four categories of death were identified. Diseases were the main type of death (67.74%). As far as the initial causes are concerned, sepsis is the main disease (13.15%) and poorly formulated causes 19.52%.Death certification needs to be performed properly to provide better information on the health of the population. Data quality remains an important challenge. Conclusion: Diseases were the main manner of death. Sepsis was the most important disease in the initial causes. The causes of death to be reformulated represented almost half of the initial causes. Verbal and medical autopsies, as well as improving the quality of the MCCD through the ICD-11, could improve national statistics. Significance of the research project: This study which is part of the mortality surveillance system, makes it possible to study the causes of death at CURY.
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