Chapters authored
Registering Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) Both as a Multiple Cause of Death and as a Notifiable Disease in Africa: Comparison Between the Ideal and the Reality
The chapter explores the possibility of registering Ebola virus disease (EVD) as a multiple cause of death (part of the civil registration/vital statistics (CR/VS) system) in addition to being a notifiable disease (part of the disease surveillance system). The linkage between the two systems is established, followed by a framework showing how each of the systems would work in the ideal situation. A scoring system is developed and used to score each dimension of this ideal system, giving a total score of 23. This tool can be used to assess the extent to which the EVD is registered both as a multiple cause of death and as a notifiable disease in Africa. The application of the tool requires that the Ebola virus disease is coded at the fourth digit ICD-10 level and that multiple causes of death are routinely collected in the first place. The country that is closest to satisfying these criteria is South Africa. The application of the tool to South Africa data showed that South African system was “fair” (between “poor” and “good”). The results are shown, discussed and recommendations are made for improving two systems in Africa.
Part of the book: Advances in Ebola Control