SynthesisMalaria journal2017
A systematic review and synthesis of the strengths and limitations of measuring malaria mortality through verbal autopsy.
Synthesis in Malaria journal, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Validation of malaria-attributed deaths using verbal autopsy studies: a systematic review.Malaria journal · 2024Pooled it
- Effect of Neonatal Azithromycin on All-Cause and Cause-Specific Infant Mortality: A Randomized Controlled Trial.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2022Trial
- Cause-specific mortality of children younger than 5 years in communities receiving biannual mass azithromycin treatment in Niger: verbal autopsy results from a cluster-randomised controlled trial.The Lancet. Global health · 2020Trial
- Biannual mass azithromycin distributions and malaria parasitemia in pre-school children in Niger: A cluster-randomized, placebo-controlled trial.PLoS medicine · 2019Trial
- Comparison of verbal autopsy using a large language model to biologically confirmed causes of death for malaria and other communicable diseases among children in six sub-Saharan African countries.Malaria journal · 2026Article
- A Qualitative Method To Assess a History of Cerebral Malaria in Malian Children.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2025Article
- Burden of child mortality from malaria in high endemic areas: Results from the CHAMPS network using minimally invasive tissue sampling.The Journal of infection · 2024Article
- Verbal Autopsy to Assess Postdischarge Mortality in Children With Suspected Sepsis in Uganda.Pediatrics · 2023Article
- Altered gastrointestinal tract structure and microbiome following cerebral malaria infection.Parasitology research · 2023Article
- Malaria infection and severe disease risks in Africa.Science (New York, N.Y.) · 2021Article
- Accuracy of verbal autopsy, clinical data and minimally invasive autopsy in the evaluation of malaria-specific mortality: an observational study.BMJ global health · 2021Observational
- Consent to minimally invasive tissue sampling procedures in children in Mozambique: A mixed-methods study.PloS one · 2021Article
- Evaluating malaria programmes in moderate- and low-transmission settings: practical ways to generate robust evidence.Malaria journal · 2020Article
- Article
- Mass antibiotic distribution to reduce mortality among preschool children?Archives of disease in childhood · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundLack of valid and reliable data on malaria deaths continues to be a problem that plagues the global health community. To address this gap, the verbal autopsy (VA) method was developed to ascertain cause of death at the population level. Despite the adoption and wide use of VA, there are many recognized limitations of VA tools and methods, especially for measuring malaria mortality. This study synthesizes the strengths and limitations of existing VA tools and methods for measuring malaria mortality (MM) in low- and middle-income countries through a systematic literature review.
methodsThe authors searched PubMed, Cochrane Library, Popline, WHOLIS, Google Scholar, and INDEPTH Network Health and Demographic Surveillance System sites' websites from 1 January 1990 to 15 January 2016 for articles and reports on MM measurement through VA. INCLUSION CRITERIA: article presented results from a VA study where malaria was a cause of death; article discussed limitations/challenges related to measurement of MM through VA. Two authors independently searched the databases and websites and conducted a synthesis of articles using a standard matrix.
resultsThe authors identified 828 publications; 88 were included in the final review. Most publications were VA studies; others were systematic reviews discussing VA tools or methods; editorials or commentaries; and studies using VA data to develop MM estimates. The main limitation were low sensitivity and specificity of VA tools for measuring MM. Other limitations included lack of standardized VA tools and methods, lack of a 'true' gold standard to assess accuracy of VA malaria mortality.
conclusionsExisting VA tools and methods for measuring MM have limitations. Given the need for data to measure progress toward the World Health Organization's Global Technical Strategy for Malaria 2016-2030 goals, the malaria community should define strategies for improving MM estimates, including exploring whether VA tools and methods could be further improved. Longer term strategies should focus on improving countries' vital registration systems for more robust and timely cause of death data.
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