Assistant Undersecretary for Public Health Dr Samya Bahram, WHO EMRO Technical Officer (Science, Information and Dissemination) Dr Eman Aly and participants during the capacity building training. Photo credit: WHO/WHO Bahrain
16 February 2025, Manama, Bahrain – Between 9 and 12 February, the World Health Organization (WHO) supported the Ministry of Health by conducting a 4-day training workshop on cause of death registration and coding.
The workshop was inaugurated by Dr Samya Bahram, Assistant Undersecretary for Public Health, Ministry of Health and Dr Eman Aly, Technical Officer, Department of Science, Information and Dissemination, WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean.
Thirty participants took part in the training, including physicians and medical coders from the health sector (Ministry of Health, Primary Healthcare Centres and Government Hospitals), the non-health sector (Ministry of Interior and Public Prosecution) and the WHO Country Office in Bahrain.
The training aimed to enhance mortality data accuracy by equipping physicians and medical coders with the skills necessary to register cause of death in line with international standards.
WHO EMRO Technical Officer (Science, Information and Dissemination) Dr Eman Aly and participants during the training. Photo credit: WHO/WHO BahrainThe WHO international form of medical certificate of cause of death (2016) is recommended for use in all countries. Properly completed, the certificate provides a description of the order, type and association of events that resulted in death, information that facilitates international comparability.
During the first 2 days, sessions focused on cause of death registration, reporting events in the correct sequence and reducing ill-defined conditions to allow for systematic recording, analysis, interpretation and comparison of mortality and morbidity data.
The remaining 2 days focused on the International Classification of Diseases (ICD). For more than a century, ICD has formed the basis for comparable statistics on causes of mortality and morbidity. Information on cause of death is analysed, reported and coded according to ICD standards.
Participants conduct hands-on exercises during the training. Photo credit: WHO/WHO BahrainDr Robert Jakob, Team Leader, and Dr Nenad Friedrich Ivan Kostanjsek, Technical Officer, Classifications and Terminologies Unit, Division of Data, Analytics and Delivery for Impact, WHO headquarters, gave a presentation on ICD-11, providing a detailed overview of the new classifications and ICD-11 coding tools.
To support the eventual transition to ICD-11, participants were introduced to the ICD Field Implementation Tool (ICD-FIT). They undertook ICD-11 coding exercises and received feedback, gaining hands-on experience in using the web-based application’s modules.
High-quality coding of death certificates will allow Bahrain to enhance reporting of routine mortality statistics, understand disease trends and patterns, identify emerging health needs and challenges and guide interventions towards improving health outcomes in the country.
Related links:
Mortality and global health estimates
Cause of death
International Classification of Diseases (ICD)
Eleventh revision of the International Classification of Diseases
