23–25 November 2015, New Delhi
WHO Country Office for India organized a meeting of the WHO Global Working Group on Verbal Autopsy (VA) from 23-25 November 2015 at the WHO South-East Asia Regional Office in New Delhi to support the Government of India (GoI) in strengthening mechanisms for generation of robust data on the causes of death.
The key objective of the meeting was to share global experiences and provide technical advice to the two key ministries of the Government of India involved in this area: the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW) and the Office of Registrar General of India, Ministry of Home Affairs.
Effective stewardship of health systems requires availability of robust health intelligence, including information on causes of death (CoD). Data on CoD i.e. ‘who is dying of what cause, when and where’ is the most fundamental evidence that is essential throughout the health policy cycle. Initially, it is important for priority setting, informed policy formulation and resource allocation. Subsequently, CoD is needed for evaluating the effectiveness of public health strategies in addressing health challenges.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Robert Jakob, the chairperson of the meeting and Technical Officer, WHO-HQ, Geneva stated that the initiatives by the Government of India are unique as no other country has responded with such pace and applied the WHO-2014 VA tool in the field conditions.
Dr Prakin Suchaxaya, Acting WHO Representative commended the government and reiterated WHO’s support in improving availability of robust CoD data, including strengthening Verbal Autopsy and Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) Systems.
The three-day interaction established a sound working relationship between the Indian experts and the Global VA Group, setting the stage for continued technical collaborations, which would enable VA work in India to feed into global evidence and vice versa.
The Director of the National Institute of Medical Statistics and the Deputy Registrar General found the meeting very helpful in improving their understanding with regards to the use of WHO 2014 harmonized VA tool and the architectural intricacies of the computer-based algorithms, including InterVA and Tariff.
The key participants at the meeting included experts from: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK; Umea University, Sweden; Australian National University, Canberra; International Research Centre, Bangladesh; senior officials from Office of Registrar General of India, National Institute of Medical Statistics, India Council of Medical Research, Public Health Foundation of India, WHO HQ and WHO Country Office for India.
More information about Verbal Autopsy can be accessed on