Abstract

RIOS MASSABOT, Norma E; FERNANDEZ VIERA, Rosa María  and  JORGE PEREZ, Elia Rosa. Health registries in Cuba. Rev Cubana Salud Pública [online]. 2005, vol.31, n.4, pp. 0-0. ISSN 1561-3127.

Cuba has relatively long work experience with population-based registries, particularly mortality registers. In spite of this, poor coverage and lack of comprehensive information had been permanent characteristics for over a century. At the colonial times, seven population censuses were conducted, two of them in the 18th century. During the 17th and the 18th centuries, the data sources for health statistics were baptism, burial, admission to and discharge from hospital register books. In the 19th century, Superior Health Board provisions about death certification, and the foundation of the Academy of Physical and Natural Sciences of Havana made it possible the submission of many scientific papers on health problems. These papers together with death notices used to be published in the medical journal of that time. In the 20th century, the collection of death certificates from the whole country was finally organized to provide nationwide statistics and notifiable disease reports and data whereas data collection was set to be only obtained from hospitals under the Public health and Welfare Department. In the 60's, the sub-register of death was set at 10% and that of notifiable diseases at a much higher percentage. Birth statistics had never been published before whereas health resource and service statistics were incomplete. At the triumph of the Revolution, all the centers that rendered medical care to the population were incorporated into the Ministry of Public Health; besides, a governing body of the national statistics area was created. The joint work of the General Division of Statistics of the Central Planning Board (JUCEPLAN) and of the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Public Health allowed the latter to develop a work strategy to extend register coverage to almost 100 % and to perform research works aimed at evaluating coverage and the quality of the gathered data

Keywords : medical registers; health statistics; life statistics; mortality.

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