International Mortality and Health Metrics Unit

The International Mortality and Health Metrics Unit coordinates several projects in the Asia Pacific region and participates in other research and teaching functions within the Australian Centre for International Tropical Health.

The unit is currently engaged in the following research:

Indonesia

The Indonesian Mortality Registration System Strengthening Project (IMRSSP) funded by AusAID has been in operation through collaboration with the National Institute for Health Research and Development, Indonesia, since 2005.

Following initial implementation in sites located on Java, the activity has expanded into new sites in Bali and East Nusa Tenggara in 2009 where planning activities and training of local staff commenced in collaboration with the Indonesian Ministry of Health.

IMRSSP methods were also implemented with funding support from the World Health Organisation (WHO) during 2007 and 2008, in sites on 4 other major islands in Indonesia – Lampung (Sumatra); Pontianek (West Kalimantan); Gorontalo (Sulawesi); and Jeyapura (Papua).

Operations in these additional sites have been incorporated in IMRSSP since April 2009. Currently, the activity covers a population of approximately 3.5 million. The project has generated measures of total and cause-specific mortality by site, to be used as evidence for health monitoring and policy development by the Ministry of Health, Indonesia.

Vietnam

The unit has been leading field research activities in Vietnam towards estimating national cause-specific mortality, as part of the VINE project funded by Atlantic Philanthropies.

This work has involved the use of verbal autopsy interviews in a sample of deaths identified during the 2007 Annual Socio-economic Survey conducted by the General Statistics Office, Vietnam, as a means of ascertaining the cause of death.

Preliminary findings have been used to develop a first estimate of national burden of disease in Vietnam. Data collection methods are now being tested for implementation in conjunction with routine death registration and vital statistics systems through collaboration with the Ministry of Health and five medical universities in Vietnam, which will be conducted during 2009-2010.

Thailand

In Thailand, field research to verify registered causes of deaths in a nationally representative sample of deaths in 2005 has been completed. This project is jointly funded by the NHMRC and Wellcome Trust.

The project involved the development and implementation of verbal autopsy procedures in a Thai context, their validation using hospital records as reference diagnoses, and a synthesis of results to derive national estimates of mortality by age, sex and cause for Thailand in 2005.

A report has been prepared for the Ministry of Public Health, and study methods and findings have also been documented in manuscripts for dissemination to the international research community.

Pacific Island Countries

The unit has been working with Professor Richard Taylor (University of New South Wales) on an AusAID funded project to look at strengthening mortality and cause of death reporting in Pacific Island health information systems.

Health planners in many of the Pacific Islands have for many years had limited access to accurate and reliable mortality and cause of death data by age and gender in order to inform their decisions.

The project is working with seven countries to assess data collection and analysis systems, as well as to produce reliable estimates of both the level of mortality and the cause of death patterns by age and gender.

Over the course of the year, visits were made to Palau, Nauru, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu and the team has continued to follow up earlier visits to Fiji and Tonga.

Initial system assessments have been completed and we are in the process of establishing several follow up validation studies.

Other Research

At the global level, the unit collaborates on the analysis of mortality data for the Global Burden of Disease 2005 project, and with field research teams in the Philippines, India and Tanzania to test new verbal autopsy instruments and data analyses methods in the Gates Grand Challenge 13 Project.

In addition, the unit provides technical support to the AusAID funded Health Information Systems Knowledge Hub operated at SPH in the area of civil registration and mortality statistics development, and is involved in research in the MDGs 4 & 5 Investment Case Project.

Teaching

Teaching is a another critical contribution made by the unit. Its researchers are involved in teaching at the postgraduate level, with a focus on providing opportunities for students to participate in international field research activities related to the unit’s projects in the Asia Pacific.

The primary postgraduate course taught by the unit is Mortality Analysis, which teaches students how to conduct detailed analyses of mortality and causes of death, which are critical to developing the evidence base for health policy in developing countries.

Unit staff are also involved in teaching in the Burden of Disease workshop, which attracts participants from all over the world. Undergraduate teaching is also conducted as part of the Introduction to Population Health course.

Staff

Chalapati Rao
Senior Research Fellow
Room 310, Mayne Medical School
University of Queensland
Herston Road, Herston QLD 4006
Tel: +61 7 3346 4623
Email: c.rao@sph.uq.edu.au

Timothy Adair
Senior Research Officer
Room 310, Mayne Medical School
University of Queensland
Herston Road, Herston QLD 4006
Tel: + 61 7 3365 5419
Email: t.adair@sph.uq.edu.au

Karen Carter
Research Officer
Room 310, Mayne Medical School
University of Queensland
Herston Road, Herston QLD 4006
Tel: + 61 7 3365 5437
Email: k.carter@sph.uq.edu.au

On this site