The death of one in four women is never counted in India. But for men, the gap narrows to one in six. The gender gap in the registration of deaths has widened – from a difference of 6 percentage points in 2009 to 11 percentage points in 2018, according to a new study by researchers from Unicef in Bihar and the University of Melbourne. And it could skew the visibility of the gender impact of Covid.
For the study, published August 31 in BioMed Central’s International Journal for Equity in Health, the researchers compiled death register data from marital status reports between 2000 and 2018 and used statistical analysis – the empirical completeness method – to estimate how far distant deaths have been recorded and state and gender inequalities have narrowed or widened.
They found that the estimated completeness of registration of deaths increased from 58% in 2000 to 81% in 2018. Data categorized by gender wasn’t available until 2009, depending on how well states put the data together, the researchers said. Since then, the completeness of male death records has increased from 60% to 85%, while that of female death records has increased from 54% to only 74%.
“This is a big difference and important for two reasons. First, it means that official registration of female deaths is less common than male deaths, although registration of deaths is compulsory. This means that the families are less likely to receive an official death certificate for the death of a woman, ”said correspondent author Dr. Timothy Adair to TOI.
Second, it means that a higher proportion of female deaths are not reported and therefore we know less about mortality patterns in women compared to mortality in men. Accurate mortality measurements are important to monitor trends in population health, including measuring excess mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic. If the mortality of women during the pandemic is underestimated compared to male mortality, the impact of the pandemic on female mortality would be underestimated. “
The differences between the states are stark. In Rajasthan, according to the study’s latest estimates, male completeness was 87% while female completeness was only 62% – a 25 percentage point difference, the highest in the country. Next came Arunachal Pradesh (22 percentage points difference), followed by Madhya Pradesh (17), Assam (14), Mizoram (13) and Uttarakhand (12).
There were some outliers. In Sikkim, the completeness of the women (95%) exceeded that of the male records (87%), a difference of 8 percentage points. Nagaland came next (4 point difference), then Jammu & Kashmir (2), Meghalaya (2) and Odisha (1). “Social and cultural factors can interact with the characteristics of the national death register system to create barriers to the registration of female deaths. A death must be registered in order for a death certificate to be issued. A death certificate is required for estate inheritance and social security / insurance issues, ”Adair said.
“Another problem is that there are more male deaths than women in hospitals, where deaths are more likely than at home. In order to achieve a fairer level of registration of deaths between men and women, the barriers to registration of deaths need to be removed. “
source https://www.bisayanews.com/2021/09/11/womens-deaths-under-counted-may-skew-covid-impact-estimates-health-news-et-healthworld/
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