Do Mobile Phone Surveys Supplement Other Mortality Surveillance Methods? Results From a National Study in Bangladesh

To test whether mobile phone surveys conducted remotely might generate data on deaths that are not covered by mortality surveillance systems established in laboratories and health facilities, or in institutions involved in the post-mortem management of corpses (e.g., morgues, cemeteries).

We conducted a national survey of mobile phone users in Bangladesh during the COVID-19 pandemic. Respondents were asked to list the deaths that had occurred in their household in recent years. For each death, they were also asked to indicate whether the deceased had been diagnosed with COVID-19 prior to death, whether the death occurred at home or at a health facility, and where the burial took place. Using these data, we represented the overlap between data generated by the mobile phone survey and several potential mortality surveillance systems, which focus on counting deaths in health facilities or communal cemeteries. We described the socio-demographic characteristics of the deaths that were uniquely recorded by the mobile phone survey.

From December 2021 to July 2022, 506,659 calls were placed, resulting in 22,731 interviews completed by mobile phone. Respondents reported 1527 deaths that had occurred in their household since 2020. Among those deaths, 99 (6.5%) had received a pre-mortem diagnosis of COVID-19. The proportion of reported deaths that were not covered by other potential mortality surveillance systems, was 32.4% in the large city corporations of Dhaka and Chittagong, 36.3% in other urban areas and 49.6% in rural areas. In urban areas, deaths among men, as well as among youth and the elderly, were more likely to be covered solely by the mobile phone survey.

Mobile phone surveys can potentially remedy gaps in the data generated by other recommended mortality surveillance methods.