GSS trains Police on mortality statistics under the Bloomberg data for health initiative

Analysis of mortality statistics from Ghana’s civil registration and health systems gives indication of the absence of results on causes of death that are due to road traffic, violent and external causes. Additionally, the current level of death registration is below internationally accepted standards and the quality of vital statistics generated is very low.

According to Dr. Fidelia Dake, Country Expert for the Global Grants Programme, “these limitations have necessitated the training of police officers to collect data on mortality from road traffic, violent and external causes as part of routine data collection processes to augment vital statistics generated from the health and civil registration systems”.

Against the foregoing, the Ghana Statistical Service under the auspices of the Bloomberg Data for Health Initiative has conducted a two-day workshop for officers of the Ghana Police Service and other stakeholders from the Greater Accra region in Winneba. The training aims to build the capacity of personnel to accurately collect data on mortality resulting from road traffic, violent and external deaths.

The training is part of a series of activities being carried out under the Global Grants Program funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies under the Civil Registration and Vital Statistics arm of the Bloomberg Data for Health Initiative.

The Ghana Statistical Service and its partners identify that the training is timely and relevant for national and international development, particularly in the area of collecting quality data for measuring indicators for the global sustainable development goals. It is expected that the training will help to equip police officers with the requisite skills to collect accurate statistics on road traffic, violent and external deaths to improve the quality of mortality statistics in the country.

Source: goldstreetbusiness.com