who we are

Improving Lives Through Better Data

The Countrywide Mortality Surveillance for Action (COMSA) in Mozambique aims to improve the lives of Mozambicans by producing continuous annual data on mortality and cause of death and national and provincial levels for use by the government and policy-makers. This system will be a model for other countries in the region.

COMSA is led and implemented by the Government of Mozambique through the National Institute of Statistics and the National Institute of Health with technical assistance and advice from Johns Hopkins University.

OUR GOALS BY 2020

The long-term goal of COMSA is to enhance the health of Mozambicans by producing data on mortality and cause of death that can inform health programs and policies in Mozambique. This system will be a model for other countries with poor understanding of cause of death.

By the year 2020, COMSA aims to:

Set up a nationwide, continuous mortality surveillance system in Mozambique

Generate robust mortality & cause of death estimates representative at provincial and national levels

Engage government & stakeholders to use COMSA data for policy and program decision-making

About Mozambique

Mozambique is an East African country with a population close to 29 million. It is one of the few countries in sub-Saharan Africa that met the Millennium Development Goal four by reducing its under-five mortality by over two-thirds by 2015. Under-five mortality was estimated at 79 deaths per 1000 in 2015. Reaching the newly set target under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of under-five mortality as low as 25 by 2030 will require greater efforts in health program strategies and precise, accurate and timely measurement of mortality and cause of death to inform these programs.

The Challenge

Innovative approaches are urgently needed to support Mozambique to monitor trends in mortality and causes of death among its population. Currently, Mozambique does not have a functioning civil registration and vital statistics system that is able to produce complete and high-quality mortality data. At present, the country relies on national household surveys to measure mortality, but these sources do not generate recent mortality data and are not reflective of health program impact.

FACTS ABOUT MOZAMBIQUE

81,000 children under the age of five died in 2017.

Complications from prematurity, pneumonia, and malaria are leading killers of children under five years old.

In 2015, 5,300 women died from complications of pregnancy or childbirth.

Who We Work With

COMSA is implemented by the Government of Mozambique through the National Institute of Statistics (INE), the National Institute of Health (INS), the Ministry of Health (MISAU) and the Ministry of Justice (MOJ), with technical assistance from the Institute of International Programs (IIP) at Johns Hopkins University and funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.