The Pandemic Shows Why Counting Global Deaths Is Essential
Too many countries fail to record deaths and their causes accurately. This makes tracking the spread of Covid-19 and other diseases harder than it needs to be.
Every death matters.
Photographer: Xavier Galiana/AFP via Getty Images
The past 18 months have shown that accurately counting the dead is vital for protecting the living. At the outset of the pandemic, many countries lacked adequate registration systems, and others saw their processes break down under strain. This made it harder to track the spread of Covid-19 and deal with its consequences. Even in normal times, lack of data about deaths and their causes can seriously impede efforts to protect public health. Fixing this ought to be a global priority.
Reliable information on mortality and morbidity can give warning of growing public-health challenges, such as heart disease due to obesity and diabetes, or drug abuse. It can also help to flag racial and other disparities that highlight inequalities in housing, jobs and access to health care. The rate of deaths from Covid-19 has been significantly higher for Black Americans than White Americans, for instance; figures for the U.K. tell a similar story. In India, lack of data for rural areas early in the pandemic led to fatal complacency.