The role of health institutions

Health institutions have a critical—and dual—role in the vital statistics system. First, health institutions act as informants of the occurrence of births, foetal deaths and deaths; and second, the certification of causes of death can be performed only by physicians attached to health institutions. In addition to these functions carried out within the framework of the vital statistics system, information collected by health institutions is crucial in generating health statistics which, in turn, provide irreplaceable information regarding the overall health of the population, and the functioning and the needs of the public-health system.

Related Subject(s): Economic and Social Development