Abstract
Learning About Death: A Pilot Study to Improve Evidence about Mortality in Africa and Asia
Dennis Feehan, PhD, Associate Professor of Demography, University of California, Berkeley
Survey methods for estimating adult mortality are critical in populations that lack complete death registration (including most of Africa and Asia), but current methods require large samples and rely on largely untested assumptions. The proposed research will collect new qualitative data to inform the design of new survey-based mortality estimation methods in Kenya; the idea is to explore possible survey questions about deaths among a wider set of people than siblings or household members – the two currently-used approaches – including extended kin (cousins and aunts/uncles), neighbors, and acquaintances. The results will produce tools that can improve measurement of adult mortality, and so improve science and policy around the world.