Introducing the News Digest: Verbal Autopsy and Cause-of-Death Data
Why we are launching this digest, what it will track — WHO instrument updates, InterVA model research, CRVS field work — and how entries are sourced.
This digest tracks developments around verbal autopsy (VA) — the structured interview method used to determine the most likely cause of death where no physician certification is available — and the analytic models, including InterVA, that turn those interviews into cause-of-death data.
What the digest will track
- WHO standards and instruments. Updates to the WHO verbal autopsy instrument and the manuals and training curricula that accompany it.
- InterVA model research. New validation studies, method comparisons, and software releases in the open VA ecosystem.
- Field implementation. How countries and health-and-demographic surveillance sites integrate VA into civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) systems.
- Data quality and interpretation. Notes on what VA-derived cause-of-death distributions can and cannot tell us.
How entries are sourced
Each entry closes with a Sources list pointing to the primary document — WHO publications, journal articles, or official project pages. This is an independent reference site: it is not affiliated with the InterVA project team, Umeå University, or the World Health Organization, and it distributes no software. Links to official tools always point to their original sources.