The Brisbane Accord Group is in the process of organising a sub-regional training for doctors on medical certification of causes-of-death that will be held on 5-7th December 2018 in the Kingdom of Tonga. This training is jointly organised by SPC, WHO, the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Queensland University of Technology, Fiji National University, and UNFPA, and is provided as a part of the Public Health and Pacific Civil Registration and Vital Statistics work programme.
Improving the quality and reporting of vital statistics and in particular statistics on death and causes-of-death, is a regional priority under the Ten Year Pacific Statistics Strategy (TYPSS), the Healthy Islands Development Framework, and the global sustainable development agenda. Unfortunately, this area of reporting remains challenging for most countries of the Pacific region, owing to weaknesses in the completeness and quality of data, including amongst others, medical certification practices that do not align to internationally recommended principles and formats.
There is a range of factors contributing to inadequate and inaccurate certification practices; including inadequate knowledge and awareness on certification, as well as social pressure from relatives and the community to avoid recording sensitive causes-of-death. This workshop will aim to discuss these and other related factors, with an objective of building knowledge on how to address and overcome such barriers. The workshop aims to strengthen the capacity of countries in medical certification of causes-of-death. This training is one of a series of trainings provided by BAG with an objective of building a pool of Pacific Island regional trainers on cause of death certification.