Rapid assessment of national civil registration and vital statistics systems

Overview

The World Health Organization (WHO), working with the University of Queensland in Australia, developed a comprehensive guide to support countries who wish to improve their civil registration and vital statistics systems.

During the guide’s development and field-testing phase, countries suggested that, before undertaking the detailed review, it would be useful to first carry out a rapid assessment to quickly evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the current system. The results of this rapid assessment could then be used to make the case for a more detailed assessment.

This rapid assessment tool has therefore been developed to accompany the comprehensive guide, and countries are advised to apply it before undertaking a full review of their systems. It is available as both text and a spreadsheet, for ease of compilation of data. Both tools have been extensively peer reviewed by technical experts, and field tested in three countries.