The World Health Organization estimates that 65 percent of all deaths worldwide –around 35 million each year– go unrecorded. Moreover, millions of those deaths recorded, lack a reliable cause of death. Without this information, government officials, public health leaders and founders cannot make informed decisions.

Through the Bloomberg Philanthropies Data for Health Initiative and in partnership with the University of Melbourne and US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Vital Strategies (VS) works with governments in Asia-Pacific to address this very issue. Vital Strategies support national authorities to improve public health data collection and use, so that governments, aid organizations, and public health workers are equipped to prioritize health challenges, develop policies, deploy resources, and measure progress. In particular, VS focuses its efforts on low and middle-income countries in Asia and the Pacific (as well as other parts of the world) to provide technical and project assistance for the improvement of CRVS systems, and to empower government to use data for priority setting and policy-making. Such partnerships boost national capacity for evidence-based policy development and monitoring, including for reporting on achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and the Asia-Pacific CRVS Decade (2015-2024).

For more information visit the website www.vitalstrategies.org