Mortality Data in Service of Conflict-Affected Populations

Abstract

Silva and Mizoguchi tackle the serious challenge of obtaining data to describe mortality during and after armed conflict. The chapter starts by reviewing the changing nature of armed conflict and the implication of this for collecting data to guide public health interventions and humanitarian response. Distinguishing between the direct and indirect mortality effects of conflict, the authors showcase approaches to measuring mortality in war-affected societies, with examples, and review the strengths and limitations of these methods. They conclude by highlighting challenges for the global health community in producing high quality, timely and actionable mortality data.