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"Just get on with it." Linking data systems to report on infant mortality and the First Nations population in Manitoba (Canada)

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Elias, B.; | Hart, L. | Martens, P.;

Affiliations: Department of Community Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada | Centre for Human Rights Research, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada | Southeast Resource Development Council Corporation, Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Health Information Research and Governance Committee, Canada | Manitoba Centre for Health Policy, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada

Note: [] Corresponding author: Brenda Elias, Department of Community Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Manitoba, 750 Bannatyne Avenue, Winnipeg, R3E 3P4, MB, Canada. Tel.: +1 204 789 3358; E-mail: [email protected]

Keywords: Indigenous, infant mortality estimation, vital statistics, data linkage, Canada

DOI: 10.3233/SJI-140827

Journal: Statistical Journal of the IAOS, vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 285-295, 2014

Received 22 July 2014
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Accepted 22 July 2014
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Published: 2014
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Abstract

The routine reporting of actionable statistics to improve system performance and prevent premature mortality has been promoted for decades. A key statistic produced nationally and globally is infant mortality. State governments define, collect and report vital events. In Canada, vital statistics is a provincial responsibility. The provinces, however, do not uniformly collect vital events for First Nations who are under Federal fiduciary responsibility or uniformly maintain a registration group field for disaggregation purposes. In 2008, Canada's Public Health Agency conceded that a lack of a First Nations identifier has obscured any understanding of First Nations perinatal health. Given these drivers of variability and the complex multi-jurisdictional vital statistics environments in which they occur, this paper demonstrates, using data linkage methods, a way to improve the estimation of infant mortality for the First Nations population in Manitoba, Canada. The method improved estimation, and demonstrated a persistent gap in infant mortality.

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