Reporting Deaths Among Children Aged <5 Years After the Ebola Virus Disease Epidemic - Bombali District, Sierra Leone, 2015-2016

MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2017 Oct 20;66(41):1116-1118. doi: 10.15585/mmwr.mm6641a5.

Abstract

Mortality surveillance and vital registration are limited in Sierra Leone, a country with one of the highest mortality rates among children aged <5 years worldwide, approximately 120 deaths per 1,000 live births (1,2). To inform efforts to strengthen surveillance, stillbirths and deaths in children aged <5 years from multiple surveillance streams in Bombali Sebora chiefdom were retrospectively reviewed. In total, during January 2015-November 2016, 930 deaths in children aged <5 years were identified, representing 73.3% of the 1,269 deaths that were expected based on modeled estimates. The "117" telephone alert system established during the Ebola virus disease (Ebola) epidemic captured 683 (73.4%) of all reported deaths in children aged <5 years, and was the predominant reporting source for stillbirths (n = 172). In the absence of complete vital events registration, 117 call alerts markedly improved the completeness of reporting of stillbirths and deaths in children aged <5 years.

MeSH terms

  • Child Mortality*
  • Child, Preschool
  • Epidemics*
  • Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola / epidemiology*
  • Humans
  • Infant
  • Infant Mortality*
  • Infant, Newborn
  • Mandatory Reporting
  • Population Surveillance*
  • Sierra Leone / epidemiology
  • Stillbirth / epidemiology