Vital Statistics Commission of Jamaica - Planning Institute of Jamaica

Audit of Vital Registration and Vital Statistics Systems: Jamaica
RECOMMENDATIONS
The findings point to core challenges which are the absence of a standard definition of vital
statistics, ineffective inter-agency communication, a lack of accountability, and insufficient
management control processes.
Our fundamental recommendation is that all vital statistics produced by the Jamaican
government and/or its respective ministries and agencies should utilize the same standard
data sets, methodologies, and definitions.
The collection and production of vital statistics is a process (see Exhibit A, Flow Chart “Vital
Statistics Data Collection, Analysis, and Production, Proposed Flow of Data). The RGD
should be responsible for producing annual “vital statistics data sets” containing information
on births and deaths (including fetal deaths, if desired) which would be extracts from the
current registration databases. These annual data sets should be based on the year of
occurrence rather than the year of registration. In collaboration with STATIN and PIOJ, the
RGD should set a cutoff date approximately two months after the end of the calendar year at
which point a “preliminary” data set should be released in order to satisfy the publication
requirements of STATIN and PIOJ (three months from the end of the calendar year).
Approximately 12 months from the end of the calendar year, the RGD should release a
“final” data set for that year. This data set should be the official source for vital statistics and
should remain static. Recognizing that all vital events may not be captured completely at the
12 month mark, the registration databases should be updated continuously. The RGD should
publish annually a set of technical notes with a description of the data collection process and
the methodologies utilized to construct the vital statistics data sets, including control totals.
In addition, the RGD should track on an annual basis, and publish in the technical notes, the
number of events registered after the preliminary and final cutoff dates. This will serve to
provide a means for evaluating the completeness of the statistical data sets.
STATIN should be responsible for producing and publishing official “vital statistic reports”
including statistics generated from the data sets generated by the RGD. STATIN should
publish annually a set of technical notes detailing the methodologies, definitions, and
procedures used to produce its statistics. It is critical that these statistics be replicable by
others (e.g., PIOJ) using the same data sets. Preliminary vital statistics should be used by
STATIN (and PIOJ) in its annual reports as estimates of the most recent data available and
should be prominently identified as preliminary. In subsequent annual reports, the
preliminary statistics should be replaced by final statistics generated from the final data sets.
Studies of vital statistics data quality and completeness carried out by or funded by
government agencies should involve all key stakeholders in the conceptual stages. At the
very least, research protocols and reports of findings should be subject to a clearance process
in which each stakeholder agency has the opportunity to comment. Every effort should be
made to ensure that the results of such studies are presented constructively with the express
purpose of improving data quality and completeness.
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