Methodology
Users' guides to the medical literature: how to use an article about mortality in a humanitarian emergency
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* Corresponding author: Edward J Mills emills@sfu.ca
1 Simon Fraser University, British Columbia, Canada
2 Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
3 St. Michael's Hospital, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
4 Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
5 Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, Harvard University, Boston, USA
6 Center for Public Health and Human Rights, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
7 Division of Infectious Diseases, The Ottawa Hospital, Ontario, Canada
8 International Rescue Committee, Atlanta, GA, USA
9 Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
10 National Center for Disaster Preparedness, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, USA
11 Nutrition Branch, Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Atlanta, GA, USA
12 Department of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics, McMaster University, Ontario, Canada
Conflict and Health 2008, 2:9 doi:10.1186/1752-1505-2-9
Published: 30 September 2008Abstract
The accurate interpretation of mortality surveys in humanitarian crises is useful for both public health responses and security responses. Recent examples suggest that few medical personnel and researchers can accurately interpret the validity of a mortality survey in these settings. Using an example of a mortality survey from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), we demonstrate important methodological considerations that readers should keep in mind when reading a mortality survey to determine the validity of the study and the applicability of the findings to their settings.