THE FIRST Technical Advisory Group (TAG) on strengthening national mortality data systems was held in March 2026, to shape a Global Strategy on mortality surveillance by mid-2026.
Led by Doris Ma Fat, data expert, Department of Data and Analytics, WHO, Geneva, Switzerland, alongside 14 other experts, the TAG aims to table a draft resolution for mortality monitoring at the World Health Assembly in 2027 or 2028, to address chronic gaps in national mortality data systems.
Ma Fat told EMJ at the 79th World Health Assembly: “We found out that only 73 countries out of 194 Member States were regularly able to produce death counts.
“It’s quite outrageous, I would say.
“There has been a lot of epidemics in the past, so the concern is that some countries don’t have a system functional enough to produce mortality data on a routine basis.”
Lessons from COVID
Ma Fat reported that the reason a Global Strategy is needed became particularly apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic, that exposed flaws in even high-income countries’ monitoring systems.
There are significant gaps between the mortality monitoring capabilities in high-income and low- and middle-income countries.
Ma Fat continued: “In low-income countries, it’s actually very hard to get people to declare a death.
“There’s no purpose – you won’t be getting any social benefits or inheritance, so it has been a big problem, highlighted during the pandemic.”
The hope is that the resolution will be endorsed by Member States, committing them to establishing functional mortality data systems.
Ebola Outbreak in the DRC
The ongoing outbreak of Ebola disease in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, in which there has been significant uncertainty around the number of suspected cases, again spotlights the issue.
Ma Fat said: “This type of epidemic should, again, highlight the problem, right?
“They didn’t know how many people died.
“We don’t even know when it started.”
The data expert also explained co-occurring issues with a lack of mortality data, particularly with an absence of cause-of-death information.
Without functional monitoring systems, governments are unable to gain insight into what the most pressing public health issues are and, consequently, where to invest.
Whilst reliance on estimates is “okay” in the short-term, it is not the ideal.
The Urgent Need for Centralised Databases
Ma Fat warned Member States: “You shouldn’t wait for another pandemic.”
Gradually investing in, and constructing, functional national mortality monitoring systems can take decades.
However, Ma Fat explained how countries can begin gathering data at the community level.
She said: “I wouldn’t say you can’t do it – you can do it.
“Of course, the end goal is to improve the big system, which will take years.
“Immediately, we have proposed a few steps on how countries can collect data from the community: engage community agents and use them to collect data on who is dying – who has died in the past week – and get it in a system, in a centralised database.”
This comes amid the Assembly’s 22nd May decision to establish a joint process, led by Member States and hosted by WHO and other stakeholders, to support reforms of the global health architecture.
Featured image: JohnKwan on Adobe Stock
