Thursday March 15, 2012
Verbal autopsies shed light on death
14 million verbal autopsies shed light on death
|
|
|
People call Prabhat Jha "Dr. Death" because of his passion for collecting information on why people die in developing countries. He says he's goal is to reduce premature death as much as possible. |
Scientists say the death toll in the developing world totals around 46 million each year, and for the great majority of them, nobody really knows the cause.
Since most occur at home, there's rarely a certified cause. So in India, where nine-million die annually, they're engaged in one of the largest investigations of human mortality ever attempted.
It's called The Million Death Study, and it's been going on for the past 14 years.
When it ends two years from now, scientists will have tracked nearly 14 million people, employing a technique called the verbal autopsy.
Renowned Canadian epidemiologist Prabhat Jha leads the study, from the Centre for Global Health Research at the University of Toronto.
Categories: Asia, Promo Box, The View from Here
Air Times
| Network | Times |
|---|---|
| Radio One | Thursday 1 pm, 1:30 pm NT Sunday 7 pm, 8 pm AT and 8:30 pm NT |
| Sirius 137 | Friday at Midnight & 9 am, Sunday at 10 pm |
DispatchesEpisode Categories
Featured Audio
Interact with Dispatches
World Headlines
- new Search for Oklahoma tornado survivors nearly complete video
- Rescue workers raced to complete the search for survivors and the dead in the Oklahoma City suburb where a mammoth tornado destroyed countless homes, cleared lots down to bare red earth and claimed 24 lives, including those of nine children.
- Baseball fuels dreams, desperation in Dominican Republic video
- The Toronto Blue Jays have a number of stars from the Dominican Republic, but in the shadow of these successful players is an equally important story about the deaths of young players and a country desperately struggling to balance hope and poverty.
- Guatemala overturns ex-dictator's 'historic' genocide conviction
- Guatemala's top court has overturned a conviction against former dictator Efrain Rios Montt, which just days ago was being hailed as a milestone decision. Earlier this month, the court made history by finding Rios Montt guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity.
- Jodi Arias asks jury to spare her life
- Jodi Arias asked jurors Tuesday to give her life in prison, arguing she "lacked perspective" when she told a local reporter in an interview after she was convicted of murder that she preferred execution to spending the rest of her days in jail.
- Canadian killed in Iraq violence, Baird says
- Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird says a Canadian is among the dead in a spate of sectarian violence in Iraq that has killed more than 270 people in just the past week.