The accuracy of mortality reporting in displaced persons camps during the post-emergency phase

For humanitarian organisations, accurate data are essential to identify eme rging health problems and determine programme needs. We visited 45 post-eme rgency phase displaced persons camps and collected three months' mortality data which we compared with organisations' routine mortality reports. Organ isations reported 612 deaths and we identified 741 deaths, for a mortality- reporting ratio, defined as the number of organisation-reported deaths divi ded by the number of investigator-identified deaths, of 83 per cent. For th e majority of camps which tinder-reported deaths, mortality reporting ratio s were significantly higher for women than men, and for camps with central mortality registers rather than those without. In the few camps which over- reported deaths, these occurred primarily among children younger than Jive years of age, probably die to the inclusion of abortions and stillbirths. D espite the overall tinder-reporting of deaths by humanitarian organisations , the existing health information systems appear to estimate mortality rate s adequately in these post-emergency camps. However, organisations should i mprove the precision and completeness with which the), report the character istics of deaths in order to provide valuable data to target their programm es at the most vulnerable people.