Training Course on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems

The International Statistics Program has developed a training course on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) Systems to provide information to epidemiologists, statisticians, demographers, and others working in public health about vital statistics data gathered from a national civil registration system. Even though CRVS systems may differ somewhat from country to country, there are internationally accepted principles and recommendations for national CRVS systems. Accordingly, the course contains a general description of the administrative process of civil registration and fundamentals of vital statistics generated from a national civil registration system. The intent is to provide background information for persons using vital statistics data so they understand how those data are obtained, ways to use and disseminate the data, and some problems and limitations of the data. The course does not cover the detailed legal and administrative issues that would be of use to persons working in a country’s office of civil registration. Instead, a general overview is provided about the civil registration process with emphasis on issues that are related to vital statistics data collection.

The objectives of this course are as follows:

• To provide an overview of the major components of a national CRVS system;
• To describe the characteristics and functions of a civil registration system, as a source for vital statistics data;
• To explain how to use, present, disseminate, and assess vital statistics data for health purposes; and
• To describe ways to assess and improve civil registration and vital statistics systems.

The content of this course has been compiled from a variety of published sources or created by the course designers. Materials may be reproduced, copied, and distributed to the public as long as relevant authors are acknowledged.

To cover the course content and activities in full, at least ten training days are recommended. The instructor teaching the class should add/modify slides and content of this course as needed to customize the course to the needs of the participants. Aspects for potential customization include modifying content to meet: course objectives, the audience, length of training, and geographic representation.

This course includes the following materials:

• Instructor Guide [PDF - 1.1 MB] - provides a description of the course materials, suggestions for using the course materials, a list of references, a course matrix, and instructor guides for select activities. A course matrix (Appendix A) outlines the participant handouts, exercises and activities, and materials for each of the eight CRVS topics.
• Participant Notes [PDF - 2.1 MB] - provide a thorough description of each of the eight CRVS topics. It is recommended that the Participant Notes be distributed to participants prior to the course and that participants read relevant chapters prior to the presentation of a given topic. The Participant Notes also provide a copy of various handouts and examples that are referenced throughout the chapters and Power Point slide sets. As well, the Participant Notes include select activity materials.
• 10 sets of slides, including 1 course introduction set, 8 sets on CRVS topics, and a template for participant presentations on their country’s CRVS system. These slides contain notes with reference information to indicate where additional information on the topic may be found, detailed explanations for each slide, and slides with answers for various exercises and activities. In the PDF files, notes can be viewed by clicking the orange “speech bubble” located in the upper left hand corner of each page.
  • Course Introduction [PPT - 575 KB] [PDF - 232 KB]
  • Overview of CRVS systems [PPT - 777 KB] [PDF - 296 KB]
  • Civil registration systems [PPT - 2.1 MB] [PDF - 1.3 MB]
  • Birth records [PPT - 446 KB] [PDF - 241 KB]
  • Death records [PPT - 3.4 MB] [PDF - 795 KB]
  • Analysis of vital statistics data [PPT - 2.7 MB] [PDF - 4.2 MB]
  • Data uses and dissemination [PPT - 1.1 MB] [PDF - 1.1 MB]
  • Assessing vital statistics [PPT - 4.1 MB] [PDF - 2.5 MB]
    • ANACoD: Analysing Mortality Levels & Cause-of-Death Data [PPT - 2.5 MB] [PDF - 1.6 MB] – Separate slides for an exercise using the ANACoD electronic tool to analyze and assess mortality data. These slides are also contained within the “Assessing vital statistics” slide set.
  • Evaluating and improving CRVS systems [PPT - 3.1 MB] [PDF - 1.0 MB]
  • Country template [PPT - 231 KB] [PDF - 126 KB]
• Optional in-class activities and exercises – described within the slide sets; materials available in Participant Notes and Instructor Guide.
• References and sources – listed within the slide sets and Participant Notes.

The course will be continuously updated as needs arise; additional exercises, activities, and content may be added to the course. Updates will be made available as they are developed.

A basic version of this course is available in French. Please contact Erin Nichols (igd1@cdc.gov; +1-301-458-4426) to request additional course material, to suggest additional course topics, or to suggest modifications to existing course materials.