Table 3.

Recommendations for the improvement of death registration in Myanmar

Recommendations for each area
Legal enforcement and administrative support
• Enforce the existing vital registration related laws • Develop a comprehensive legal framework including necessary elements in the VRS in line with the World Health Organization (WHO) assessment framework of the five key components of the Civil Registration and Vital Statistics systems • Regulate the mandatory requirement of a burial certificate, as a condition to gain an approval for burial or cremation in urban and rural areas • Establish mandatory household death notification to health centers and effective enforcement • Link death notification with some social services or benefits to incentivize household compliance
Technical capacity strengthening
• Provide regular on-the-job trainings on vital registration and cause-of-death certification to healthcare providers • Make available of working manuals, flowcharts and guidelines, which includes clear and adequate instructions, to all healthcare providers • Establish a routine practice of standard data consistency and plausibility checks at the local level • Upscale SmartVA platform for improved accuracy of causes-of-death
Societal awareness and engagement
• Raise public awareness about the importance of death notification, and mandatory requirement of death registration through social mobilization
Others
• Perform a comprehensive assessment of the CRVS system by using the WHO guidance tool • Ensure adequate resource allocation to the health sector to be able to perform vital registration functions efficiently at operational level