VA NEWSLETTER

Welcome
to the second edition of the
Data for Health Initiative pilot
on SmartVA
This is the initiative’s second
newsletter, which provides updates
on the progress and experience of
municipalities and cities participating in
the pilot implementation of a nationwide
initiative to improve the data for health in
the country. #Make every death count
#Make every cause of death visible
Where are we now with Smart Verbal Autopsy?
To assess how doctors were using SmartVA and the results obtained, a
mid-term assessment of the pilot implementation of SmartVA was held last
January 2018. This activity was attended by 45 doctor s and IT personnel
from SmartVA implementing areas. Preliminary analysis of SmartVA reports
as of 15 December 2017 was presented by Associate Prof Rohina Joshi of the
University of Melbourne. The doctors and the IT staff shared their views and
experience with the tool.

During the period covered by the report, majority of those interviewed were
What is Smart Verbal Autopsy? family members of the deceased (96.7%) and 90% of these interviews were
conducted by the doctors themselves. Only about a third (35.8%) of the
SmartVA is a tool which uses a deceased had available medical records. SmartVA was often used even
simplified structured questionnaire to when medical records were available to compare the medical abstract with
interview the family members of the the tariff analysis. In cases where SmartVA was used, about 60% of the causes
deceased, record the responses in of death generated by SmartVA matched the diagnosis of the doctors.
a tablet and electronically determine 0.0 5.0 10.0 15.0 20.0 25.0
from the responses the most
probable cause of death. It will help
improve the quality of cause of death
data for deaths occurring outside a
health facility (representing about
60% of the registered deaths).

Cases with undetermined cause

of death accounted for 20% of
the discrepancy between the
diagnosis of the physician and tariff.
In this data set, the huge number
of undetermined case was due to Physician Diagnosis
a data entry error. Tariff was run Smart VA
on cases where SmartVA was not
actually used. Since there was no
data for those cases, no symptom
was identified by the software and
hence the underlying cause of death
generated was undetermined. All
physicians have since been trained
in correct data entry methods. If you
have any queries regarding data
entry, please contact us.
Reminders for Weekly Reports “SmartVA helps in saving time to
Use the latest version of the excel monitoring report form: The make the diagnoses.”
1 filename of the excel file is withIHD_agecomp_EB_VeryFinal_
RevisedSmartVA. The revised excel report form uses a drop down
menu for uniformity in the way data is reported. Email us in case there
are issues in the report template
2 Reporting of time spent during the interview: Record separately
the time start and time end of the interview on the general module,
the open-ended questions and the specific SmartVA questions. The
amount of time spent will vary with the cause of death. If SmartVA is
used, share with us how you are able to finish the interview quickly,
say less than 15 minutes.

3 Do not leave a column blank: During the mid-term assessment last

January about 1/3 of the reports submitted were not included in the
analysis because of missing information or blank cells. Blank cells
happen only when SmartVA is not used or when SmartVA generates
less than 3 cause of deaths.

Updates
1 Some regions had set up a social media group such as WhatsApp
where they ask each other for advice/support.

2 The final evaluation of the SmartVA pilot will take place at a workshop
in July 2018. Everyone can submit comments and suggestions on the
tool in June for its improvement and adoption.

3 DOH is drafting rules on death certification, which includes guidelines

on the use of verbal autopsy. This is in support of the country’s
target of using verbal autopsy to determine cause of death in 85%
of community death. There is also a D4H Verbal Autopsy group on
Facebook that you are invited to join in order to receive updates and
to engage in discussions online.

Statistics on VA Implementation (June 2017- April 30, 2018)

6,355 Cebu Manila Paranaque

No. of VA reports 1104 318 275

submitted LGUs with the most number of community
deaths where SmartVA was used.

5,514 RIP Highest %

• Pulilan, Bulacan
DEATHS

• Cebu: Cebu City, Dalaguete, Bogo City,

No. of community deaths Balamban, Badian, Borbon, Alonguisan,
where SmartVA was used San Remigio
• Sarangani: Maitum
LGUs with the highest estimated percentage
of community deaths where VA was used.

i Needing IT support, contact:

DOH Central Office: Calabarzon:
Patrick Diangco, patrickdiangco@gmail.com Rita Jane Espina, ritajane.espina@gmail.com
Joel Cantero, jvcantero@yahoo.com
Western Visayas:
Central Luzon: Arthur Zafra, adz_91@yahoo.com
Archi Bri Orles, archy08@gmail.com
Sarangani:
Metro Manila: Kim John Ngo, darkrelicz@gmail.com
Maria Jenna Santos, jensan.js18@gmail.com
IT support of neighboring health centers
MIMAROPA: implementing SmartVA
Mark Anthony P. Morro, Ryan Carlo G. Padilla and
Timothy John Bernardo