About Viva

The importance of up-to-date and on-the-ground health information

Annual Household surveys are expensive relative to data quality. They suffer limitations of timeliness and continuity. Government DHIS data systems often have incomplete coverage and other structural issues. In contrast, VIVA's SRS systems can collect ongoing, timely, evidence-based data to help public health stakeholders make informed and effective policy decisions.

THE VIVA DIFFERENCE

What is different about VIVA

In contrast to incomplete and often irregular household surveys and structurally inadequate government data systems, VIVA SRS systems collect ongoing, timely, evidence-based data to help public health stakeholders make informed and effective policy decisions.

THE VIVA PROCESS

Why does it work

In Africa and Asia, many deaths occur in rural areas and are not captured by data systems in hospitals or mortuaries. Systematic household monitoring is very effective at capturing cause-of-death data. The VIVA process ensures that data collectors live in the communities they serve. They are able to visit homes and build a relationship with their communities. When vital events occur, they can respond quickly and with effective use of digital technology, submit data within hours. Countries can adapt systems by adding modules to address other public health priorities.

VIVA IN THE WORLD

Where has it been used

Sample registration systems - or sample-based mortality surveillance systems - have been successfully implemented in Mozambique, Sierra Leone, and other settings since 2018. Other countries implementing these systems include Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mozambique, Tanzania, Thailand, and Zambia. We hope to share that knowledge with other countries that may have an interest in solving the problem of preventable death.

Our Partners

VIVA is a partnership between the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health,  The Gates Foundation, Vital Strategies, World Health Organization, Africa, Center for Disease Control, National Center for Health Statistics, and the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute. It also includes representatives from ministries of health and statistics from many Asian and African countries with experience setting up SRS systems. These include representatives from:

Who we are

The VIVA team includes demographers, data scientists, epidemiologists and software engineers from academic and donor organizations.

  • Agbessi Amouzou

    PROFESSOR

  • Almamy Malick Kante

    ASSOCIATE SCIENTIST

  • Alain Koffi

    ASSOCIATE SCIENTIST

  • Emily Wilson

    SR. RESEARCH ASSOCIATE

  • Md Hafiz Rahman

    ASSOCIATE SCIENTIST

  • Kelsey Zack

    RESEARCH ASSOCIATE

  • Fred VanDyk

    SOFTWARE ENGINEER

  • Aveika Akum

    SR. RESEARCH ASSOCIATE

Receive a Link to the Tools

Want to start implementing a VIVA system in your country? This step-by-step guide and set of tools will give you everything you need to successfully track mortality data and its causes and empower you to take meaningful action to prevent deaths and improve the health of your community. Just complete this form and you will receive a link by email. If for some reason you do not receive the link within a few minutes, please email us directly at viva@jh.edu.