Verbal autopsy coding: are multiple coders better than one?
Rohina Joshi, Alan D Lopez, Stephen MacMahon, Srinath Reddy, Rakhi Dandona, Lalit Dandona & Bruce Neal
Volume 87, Number 1, January 2009, 51-57
Table 2. Breakdown of estimated annual cost of implementing a mortality surveillance system, Andhra Pradesh, India, 2003–2004
| Process | Cost per death |
Total costa |
Total savings with single codingb |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rs | US$c | Rs | US$c | Rs | US$c | |||
| Training | 50 | 1.09 | 67 025 | 1 474.97 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Data collection | 106 | 2.34 | 144 024 | 3 169.44 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Cause of death assignment | 250 | 5.51 | 339 000 | 7 460.14 | 169 500 | 3 730 | ||
| Project management | 252 | 5.55 | 341 724 | 7 520.08 | 103 662 | 2 281 | ||
| Total cost | 659 | 14.49 | 891 773 | 19 624.63 | 273 162 | 6 011 | ||
US$, United States dollars; Rs, Indian rupees.
a Cost per death multiplied by total number of deaths (1354).
b With deaths coded only once, the cause-of-death assignment costs would be reduced by half, and project management costs would be reduced by one third.
c Conversion rate: 1 Rs = US$ 0.0220063 (average exchange rate for 2003–2004, Reserve Bank of India).
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