The role of mortality surveillance in pandemic preparedness and response

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic exposed critical limitations in the availability of timely mortality data to inform situational assessments and guide evidence-based public health responses at local, national and global levels. Less than half of the Member States of the World Health Organization (WHO) (73 out of 194) generated the required mortality data. Member States able to meet the sudden demand for real-time data did so through strong public health leadership and strategies for coordinated data acquisition, analysis and dissemination. In most other countries, attempts were made to conduct mortality surveillance but yielded only partial data with limited utility. This experience highlighted the need for a series of strategic shifts to strengthen mortality surveillance programmes in all countries, towards complete recording of deaths and their causes with timely data dissemination. These shifts include modifying systems to enable streamlining of the compilation and use of death records from all sources while meeting the requirements of official registration processes; using electronic protocols for data management and release; and ensuring effective leadership, coordination and data use for public health action. Recently, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention developed a conceptual framework for strengthening national mortality surveillance and operational guidance for implementation. These activities and resources for improving national mortality surveillance can inform global initiatives to support pandemic preparedness and response programmes. Such initiatives will enable global readiness for early epidemic detection and disease control measure prioritization, while also building routine mortality statistics programmes for population health assessment, health policy and research.