As of 2022, the third leading cause of death among teenagers aged 15 to 19 years in the United States was intentional self-harm or suicide, contributing around 17 percent of deaths among age group. The leading cause of death at that time was unintentional injuries, contributing to around 37.4 percent of deaths, while 21.8 percent of all deaths in this age group were due to assault or homicide. Cancer and heart disease, the overall leading causes of death in the United States, are also among the leading causes of death among U.S. teenagers. Adolescent suicide in the United States In 2021, around 22 percent of students in grades 9 to 12 reported that they had seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year. Female students were around twice as likely to report seriously considering suicide compared to male students. In 2022, Montana had the highest rate of suicides among U.S. teenagers with around 39 deaths per 100,000 teenagers, followed by South Dakota with a rate of 33 per 100,000. The states with the lowest death rates among adolescents are New York and New Jersey. Mental health treatment Suicidal thoughts are a clear symptom of mental health issues. Mental health issues are not rare among children and adolescents, and treatment for such issues has become increasingly accepted and accessible. In 2021, around 15 percent of boys and girls aged 5 to 17 years had received some form of mental health treatment in the past year. At that time, around 35 percent of youths aged 12 to 17 years in the United States who were receiving specialty mental health services were doing so because they had thought about killing themselves or had already tried to kill themselves.

Rank, number of deaths, percentage of deaths, and age-specific mortality rates for the leading causes of death, by age group and sex, 2000 to most recent year.

In 2022, the leading causes of death among children and adolescents in the United States aged 10 to 14 were unintentional injuries, intentional self-harm (suicide), and cancer. That year, unintentional injuries accounted for around 25 percent of all deaths among this age group. Leading causes of death among older teens Like those aged 10 to 14 years, the leading cause of death among older teenagers in the U.S. aged 15 to 19 years is unintentional injuries. In 2022, unintentional injuries accounted for around 37 percent of all deaths among older teens. However, unlike those aged 10 to 14, the second leading cause of death among teens aged 15 to 19 is assault or homicide. Sadly, the third leading cause of death among this age group is suicide, making suicide among the leading three causes of death for both age groups. Teen suicide Suicide remains a major problem among teenagers in the United States, as reflected in the leading causes of death among this age group. It was estimated that in 2021, around 22 percent of high school students in the U.S. considered attempting suicide in the past year, with this rate twice as high for girls than for boys. The states with the highest death rates due to suicide among adolescents aged 15 to 19 years are Montana, South Dakota, and New Mexico. In 2022, the death rate from suicide among this age group in Montana was 39 per 100,000 population. In comparison, New York, the state with the lowest rate, had just five suicide deaths among those aged 15 to 19 years per 100,000 population.

NOTE. RRfem, Relative risk for females compared with males; CI, confidence interval; χ2, chi-squared.aStatistics presented exclude deaths with undetermined cause (n = 174); of 238 NCD deaths, 13 ‘other’ NCDs are excluded from main cause of death analysis.bCD, communicable diseases (HIV, TB, malaria, other common infections).cHIV/TB is the combination of all deaths diagnosed with either TB or HIV as the cause of death.dSignificantly higher proportion of deaths in males, inverse RRmales presented [in brackets].

Road accidents were the leading causes of death among young adults across India between 2017 and 2019. It accounted to **** percent of the deaths. Suicide was another main cause of death among young adults with the age of 15 to 29 years, with a **** percent share during the same time period.

Abstract Mortality indicators for Brazilians aged between 10 and 24 years old were analyzed. Data were obtained from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2019 Study, and absolute numbers, proportion of deaths and specific mortality rates from 1990 to 2019 were analyzed, according to age group (10 to 14, 15 to 19 and 20 to 24 years), sex and causes of death for Brazil, regions and Brazilian states. There was a reduction of 11.8% in the mortality rates of individuals aged between 10 and 24 years in the investigated period. In 2019, there were 13,459 deaths among women, corresponding to a reduction of 30.8% in the period. Among men there were 39,362 deaths, a reduction of only 6.2%. There was an increase in mortality rates in the North and Northeast and a reduction in the Southeast and South states. In 2019, the leading cause of death among women was traffic injuries, followed by interpersonal violence, maternal deaths and suicide. For men, interpersonal violence was the leading cause of death, especially in the Northeast, followed by traffic injuries, suicide and drowning. Police executions moved from 77th to 6th place. This study revealed inequalities in the mortality of adolescents and young adults according to sex, causes of death, regions and Brazilian states.

IDPH Leading Causes of Death, Youth - Ages 15-24, 2008

This graph illustrates the distribution of young people and children who died in France in 2014, by age and cause of death. That year, about ** percent of people being between 15 and 14 years old died from external causes such as accidents or suicide.

This dataset contains counts of deaths for California as a whole based on information entered on death certificates. Final counts are derived from static data and include out-of-state deaths to California residents, whereas provisional counts are derived from incomplete and dynamic data. Provisional counts are based on the records available when the data was retrieved and may not represent all deaths that occurred during the time period. Deaths involving injuries from external or environmental forces, such as accidents, homicide and suicide, often require additional investigation that tends to delay certification of the cause and manner of death. This can result in significant under-reporting of these deaths in provisional data.

The final data tables include both deaths that occurred in California regardless of the place of residence (by occurrence) and deaths to California residents (by residence), whereas the provisional data table only includes deaths that occurred in California regardless of the place of residence (by occurrence). The data are reported as totals, as well as stratified by age, gender, race-ethnicity, and death place type. Deaths due to all causes (ALL) and selected underlying cause of death categories are provided. See temporal coverage for more information on which combinations are available for which years.

The cause of death categories are based solely on the underlying cause of death as coded by the International Classification of Diseases. The underlying cause of death is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as "the disease or injury which initiated the train of events leading directly to death, or the circumstances of the accident or violence which produced the fatal injury." It is a single value assigned to each death based on the details as entered on the death certificate. When more than one cause is listed, the order in which they are listed can affect which cause is coded as the underlying cause. This means that similar events could be coded with different underlying causes of death depending on variations in how they were entered. Consequently, while underlying cause of death provides a convenient comparison between cause of death categories, it may not capture the full impact of each cause of death as it does not always take into account all conditions contributing to the death.

Leading causes of injury death (by percentage) by sex, race/ethnicity, age; trends if available. Source: Santa Clara County Public Health Department, VRBIS, 2007-2016. Data as of 05/26/2017.METADATA:Notes (String): Lists table title, notes and sourcesYear (Numeric): Year of dataCategory (String): Lists the category representing the data: Santa Clara County is for total population, sex: Male and Female, race/ethnicity: African American, Asian/Pacific Islander, Latino and White (non-Hispanic White only); age categories as follows: <1, 1 to 14, 15 to 24, 25 to 44, 45 to 64, 65 and older.Causes of injury death (String): Leading causes of injury deathPercent (Numeric): Percentage is the number of injury deaths from specified cause per 100 deaths in a year

In the United States in 2021, the death rate was highest among those aged 85 and over, with about 17,190.5 men and 14,914.5 women per 100,000 of the population passing away. For all ages, the death rate was at 1,118.2 per 100,000 of the population for males, and 970.8 per 100,000 of the population for women. The death rate Death rates generally are counted as the number of deaths per 1,000 or 100,000 of the population and include both deaths of natural and unnatural causes. The death rate in the United States had pretty much held steady since 1990 until it started to increase over the last decade, with the highest death rates recorded in recent years. While the birth rate in the United States has been decreasing, it is still currently higher than the death rate. Causes of death There are a myriad number of causes of death in the United States, but the most recent data shows the top three leading causes of death to be heart disease, cancers, and accidents. Heart disease was also the leading cause of death worldwide.

Number of deaths and mortality rates, by age group, sex, and place of residence, 1991 to most recent year.

In 2022, the leading cause of death among people aged 10 to 24 years old in South Korea was suicide, resulting in approximately **** deaths per 100,000 population. Suicide has been the primary cause of death among people aged 10 to 24 in South Korea for the past few years.

Number of deaths and age-specific mortality rates for selected grouped causes, by age group and sex, 2000 to most recent year.

Background Detailed assessments of mortality patterns, particularly age-specific mortality, represent a crucial input that enables health systems to target interventions to specific populations. Understanding how all-cause mortality has changed with respect to development status can identify exemplars for best practice. To accomplish this, the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2016 (GBD 2016) estimated age-specific and sex-specific all-cause mortality between 1970 and 2016 for 195 countries and territories and at the subnational level for the five countries with a population greater than 200 million in 2016. Methods We have evaluated how well civil registration systems captured deaths using a set of demographic methods called death distribution methods for adults and from consideration of survey and census data for children younger than 5 years. We generated an overall assessment of completeness of registration of deaths by dividing registered deaths in each location-year by our estimate of all-age deaths generated from our overall estimation process. For 163 locations, including subnational units in countries with a population greater than 200 million with complete vital registration (VR) systems, our estimates were largely driven by the observed data, with corrections for small fluctuations in numbers and estimation for recent years where there were lags in data reporting (lags were variable by location, generally between 1 year and 6 years). For other locations, we took advantage of different data sources available to measure under-5 mortality rates (U5MR) using complete birth histories, summary birth histories, and incomplete VR with adjustments; we measured adult mortality rate (the probability of death in individuals aged 15-60 years) using adjusted incomplete VR, sibling histories, and household death recall. We used the U5MR and adult mortality rate, together with crude death rate due to HIV in the GBD model life table system, to estimate age-specific and sex-specific death rates for each location-year. Using various international databases, we identified fatal discontinuities, which we defined as increases in the death rate of more than one death per million, resulting from conflict and terrorism, natural disasters, major transport or technological accidents, and a subset of epidemic infectious diseases; these were added to estimates in the relevant years. In 47 countries with an identified peak adult prevalence for HIV/AIDS of more than 0.5% and where VR systems were less than 65% complete, we informed our estimates of age-sex-specific mortality using the Estimation and Projection Package (EPP)-Spectrum model fitted to national HIV/AIDS prevalence surveys and antenatal clinic serosurveillance systems. We estimated stillbirths, early neonatal, late neonatal, and childhood mortality using both survey and VR data in spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression models. We estimated abridged life tables for all location-years using age-specific death rates. We grouped locations into development quintiles based on the Sociodemographic Index (SDI) and analysed mortality trends by quintile. Using spline regression, we estimated the expected mortality rate for each age-sex group as a function of SDI. We identified countries with higher life expectancy than expected by comparing observed life expectancy to anticipated life expectancy on the basis of development status alone. Findings Completeness in the registration of deaths increased from 28% in 1970 to a peak of 45% in 2013; completeness was lower after 2013 because of lags in reporting. Total deaths in children younger than 5 years decreased from 1970 to 2016, and slower decreases occurred at ages 5-24 years. By contrast, numbers of adult deaths increased in each 5-year age bracket above the age of 25 years. The distribution of annualised rates of change in age-specific mortality rate differed over the period 2000 to 2016 compared with earlier decades: increasing annualised rates of change were less frequent, although rising annualised rates of change still occurred in some locations, particularly for adolescent and younger adult age groups. Rates of stillbirths and under-5 mortality both decreased globally from 1970. Evidence for global convergence of death rates was mixed; although the absolute difference between age-standardised death rates narrowed between countries at the lowest and highest levels of SDI, the ratio of these death rates-a measure of relative inequality-increased slightly. There was a strong shift between 1970 and 2016 toward higher life expectancy, most noticeably at higher levels of SDI. Among countries with populations greater than 1 million in 2016, life expectancy at birth was highest for women in Japan, at 86.9 years (95% UI 86.7-87.2), and for men in Singapore, at 81.3 years (78.8-83.7) in 2016. Male life expectancy was generally lower than female life expectancy between 1970 and 2016, and the gap be...

Abstract

The principal objective of the 2007 Ghana Maternal Health Survey (GMHS) is intended to serve as a source of data on maternal health and maternal death for policymakers and the research community involved in the Reducing Maternal Morbidity and Mortality (R3M) program. Specifically, the data collected in the GMHS is intended to help the Government of Ghana and the consortium of organizations participating in the R3M program to launch a series of collaborative efforts to significantly expand women's access to modern family planning services and comprehensive abortion care (CAC), reduce unwanted fertility, and reduce severe complications and deaths resulting from unsafe abortion. The GMHS collected data from a nationally representative sample of households and women of reproductive age (15-49). The data were collected in two phases. The primary objectives of the 2007 GMHS were: • To collect data at the national level that will allow an assessment of the level of maternal mortality in Ghana for the country as a whole, for the R3M program regions (Greater Accra, Ashanti and Eastern Regions), and for the non-program regions; • To identify specific causes of maternal and non-maternal deaths, and specifically to be able to identify deaths due to abortion-related causes, among adult women; •To collect data on women’s perceptions and experience with antenatal, maternity, and emergency obstetrical care, especially with regard to care received before, during, and after the termination or abortion of a pregnancy; • To measure indicators of the utilization of maternal health services and especially post-abortion care services in Ghana; and • To provide baseline data for the R3M program and for follow-on studies and surveys that will be used to observe possible reductions in maternal mortality as well as reductions in abortion-related mortality.It also contributes to the ever-growing international database on maternal health-related information.

The pregnancy-related mortality ratio (PRMR) for the 7-year period preceding the survey, calculated from the sibling history data, is 451 deaths per 100,000 live births and for the 5-year period preceding the survey is 378 deaths per 100,000 live births.Induced abortion accounts for more than one in ten maternal deaths and the obstetric risk from induced abortion is highest among young women age 15-24. Although almost all women seek antenatal care from a health professional, only one in two women deliver in a health facility, and three in four women seek postnatal care. Despite the emphasis on continuity of care, less than one in two women receive all three maternity care components (antenatal care, delivery care, and postnatal care) from a skilled provider. Clearly, Ghana has a long way to go towards achieving the MDG-5 target.

Geographic coverage

National

Analysis unit

Individual

Universe

1. All women age 12-49 years in households and residents in Ghana

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

To achieve the above-mentioned objectives and to obtain an accurate measure of the causes of maternal mortality at the national level, and for the Reducing Maternal Morbidity and Mortality( R3M) regions (Greater Accra, Ashanti and Eastern regions) and other regions (Western, Central, Volta, Brong Ahafo, Northern, Upper East and Upper West), 1600 primary sampling units were selected (half from the R3M regions and half from the other regions) within the 10 administrative regions of the country, across urban and rural areas. The primary sampling units consisted of wards or subwards drawn from the 2000 Population Census. This sample size was estimated from information in the 2003 Ghana DHS survey; it was expected that each primary sampling unit would yield, on average, 150 households. GSS and GHS enumerators carried out a complete mapping and listing of the 1600 selected clusters. This first phase of data collection yielded a total of 227,715 households.

A short household questionnaire was administered to identify deaths that occurred in the five years preceding the survey to women age 12-49 in each household listed in the selected cluster. In the second phase of data collection a verbal autopsy questionnaire was administered in all households identified in the first phase as having experienced the death of a woman age 12-49. This yielded a total of 4,203 completed verbal autopsy questionnaires.

In the second phase of fieldwork, 400 clusters were randomly selected from the 1600 clusters identified in the first phase. Households with women age 15-49 were selected from these 400 clusters (half from the R3M regions and half from the other regions) and were stratified by region and urban-rural residence to yield 10,858 completed household interviews and 10,370 individual women's interviews. These households were selected randomly and independently from the households identified in the first phase as having experienced a female death.

Institutional populations (those in hospitals, army barracks, etc.) and households residing in refugee camps were excluded from the GMHS sample.

Sampling deviation

No deviation of the original sample design was made

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

The GMHS used four questionnaires: (1) a Phase I short household questionnaire administered at the time of listing; (2) a Phase II verbal autopsy questionnaire administered in households identified at listing as having experienced the death of a female household member age 12-49; (3) a Phase II long-form household questionnaire administered in independently selected households chosen for the individual woman’s interview, and (4) a Phase II questionnaire for individual women age 15-49 in the same phase two selected households. The primary purpose of the short household questionnaire administered at the time of listing during Phase I was to identify deaths to women age 12-49, for administering the verbal autopsy questionnaire on the causes of female deaths, particularly maternal deaths and abortion-related deaths. Unique identifiers for households in phase one and households in phase two were not maintained; therefore households cannot be matched across both phases of the survey. During the first phase of the survey, all households in each selected cluster were listed and administered the short household questionnaire. This questionnaire was administered to identify households that experienced the death of a female [regular] household member in the five years preceding the survey. The verbal autopsy questionnaire (VAQ) was administered during the second phase of fieldwork in those households in which thefemale who died was age 12-49. The VAQ was designed to collect as much information as possible on the causes of all female deaths, to inform the subsequent categorization of maternal deaths, and facilitate specific identification of abortion-related deaths. During the second phase of fieldwork, a longer household questionnaire was administered in the independent subsample of households, to identify eligible women age 15- 49 for the individual woman’s questionnaire and to obtain some background information on the socioeconomic status of these women. The individual questionnaire included the maternal mortality module, which allows for the calculation of direct estimates of pregnancy-related mortality rates and ratios based on the sibling history. The individual questionnaire also gathered information on abortions and miscarriages, the utilization of maternal health services and post-abortion care, women’s knowledge of the legality of abortion in Ghana, the services they have utilized for abortion and if not, the reasons they have not been able to access professional health care for abortions, the places that offer abortion-related care, the persons offering such services, and other related questions. During the design of these questionnaires, input was sought from a variety of organizations that are expected to use the resulting data. After preparation of the questionnaires in English, they were translated into three languages: Akan, Ga, and Ewe. Back translations into English were carried out by people other than the initial translators to verify the accuracy of the translations in the three languages to be used. All problems arising during the translations were resolved before the pretest. The translated questionnaires were pretested to detect any problems in the translations or the flow of the questionnaire, as well as to gauge the length of time required for interviews. GSS and GHS engaged 20 interviewers for approximately two weeks for the pretest (with proficiency in each of the local languages used in the survey). All the pretest interviewers were trained for two weeks. The pretest interviewing took about one week to complete, during which approximately 30 women were interviewed in each of the local languages. The pretest results were used to modify the survey instruments as necessary. All changes in the questionnaire after the pretest were agreed to by GSS, GHS, and Macro. GSS and GHS were responsible for producing a sufficient number of the various questionnaires for the main fieldwork. During the pretest and main survey training, experts in the areas of health and family planning were identified by GSS and GHS to provide guidance in the presentation of topics in their fields, as they relate to the GMHS questionnaires. Other technical documents that were finalized include: • Household listing manual, listing forms and cartographic materials; • Interviewer’s manual; • Supervisor’s manual; • Interviewer and Supervisor’s

Since the 1950s, the suicide rate in the United States has been significantly higher among men than women. In 2022, the suicide rate among men was almost four times higher than that of women. However, the rate of suicide for both men and women has increased gradually over the past couple of decades. Facts on suicide in the United States In 2022, the rate of suicide death in the United States was around 14 per 100,000 population. The suicide rate in the U.S. has generally increased since the year 2000, with the highest rates ever recorded in the years 2018 and 2022. In the United States, death rates from suicide are highest among those aged 45 to 64 years and lowest among younger adults aged 15 to 24. The states with the highest rates of suicide are Montana, Alaska, and Wyoming, while New Jersey and Massachusetts have the lowest rates. Suicide among men In 2023, around 4.5 percent of men in the United States reported having serious thoughts of suicide in the past year. Although this rate is lower than that of women, men still have a higher rate of suicide death than women. One reason for this may have to do with the method of suicide. Although firearms account for the largest share of suicide deaths among both men and women, firearms account for almost 60 percent of all suicides among men and just 35 percent among women. Suffocation and poisoning are the other most common methods of suicide among women, with the chances of surviving a suicide attempt from these methods being much higher than surviving an attempt by firearm. The age group with the highest rate of suicide death among men is by far those aged 75 years and over.

This series comprises files relating to inquests and magisterial inquiries into deaths of persons in Victoria as conducted by Coroners' Courts throughout the State. Although the files were created by the various courts, storage and registration was the responsibility of the Office of the Registrar-General from c.1856 - 1988. Files dating back to 1840 were covered by this arrangement.

TYPES OF DEATH SUBJECT TO AN INQUEST

1840 - 1986
A death was subject to an inquest when a person:
* was slain
* drowned
* died suddenly
* died in lunatic asylum / mental hospital (except defective / retarded children 1939 - 1959)
* died in prison
* was executed by Government (1864 - 1975 only)
* was an infant and a ward of the state in a registered house and died under suspicious circumstances (1883 - 1890) or regardless of suspicion (1890 - 1907 only)

Note that prior to 1970, a body or body part must have been recovered for inquest to occur.

1986 - ct
A death was subject to an inquest when a person:
* died in a suspected homicide
* was of unknown identity
* immediately before death was under the control of the police force, Community Services institutions (ie. youth training centres, etc), Office of Corrections institutions (ie. prisons, attendance centres, etc), assessment / treatment centres registered under Alcoholics and Drug Dependent Persons Act, mental health institutions
* died in prescribed circumstances (as at May 2004 no circumstances have been prescribed)

An inquest could also be held at the direction of the State Coroner or Attorney-General.

CONTENTS OF INDIVIDUAL FILES

1840 - 1960
These records are incomplete. At minimum level, the contents are: inquisition form, depositions (varying number) and police report leading to inquest (if applicable). Inquests resulting in criminal charges may also include: recognisances of witnesses, statement of the accused and Coroner's remarks.

1961 - ct
In addition to the above, these records may include exhibits / other documentary evidence, post mortem / police / other reports, photographs / negatives. PLEASE NOTE: SOME OF THESE PHOTOGRAPHS ARE GRAPHIC AND MAY CAUSE DISTRESS.
Occasionally findings and transcripts are also included.

INQUESTS: SOME GENERAL NOTES
Coroners were appointed by the Governor-in-Council, their function being to investigate certain types of death occurring within their area of jurisdiction. A coronial investigation attempted to determine the identity of the deceased, the circumstances surrounding the death, the medical cause of death, the identity of any persons contributing to the cause of death and to gather information necessary to register the death.

An inquest was a tool utilised during some coronial investigations. It was held only if required by legislation or as a means to resolve inconclusive investigations.

LEGISLATIVE BASIS
The types of death to be investigated by a Coroner were not stated by legislation until 1985, although it appears that investigations occurred if a Coroner were notified of a death by the police and / or if there were no death certificate proving the cause of death. In some investigations, the only action required on the part of the Coroner was to order an autopsy to determine the medical cause of death, the registration of the death and, if applicable, the issue of a death certificate.

Early inquest practice and procedure in Victoria was vested in two English Acts (an Act for improving the administration of Criminal Justice in England 1826 and an amending Act in 1828) and a single section from four Colonial Acts. The Coroner's Act 1865 consolidated this legislation.

Under the 1865 Act and succeeding acts until 1985, an inquest had to be held to determine the cause of death of any person who was slain, drowned, died suddenly or died whilst detained in any lunatic asylum / mental hospital or prison. An inquest could also be held to determine the cause of certain fires, although these were subject to the payment of a fee and since 1869, the approval of the Attorney-General.

Other legislation affected the types of deaths subject to an inquest. Under the Criminal Law and Practice Act 1864, and later Crimes Acts, an inquest was required on all persons executed by the Government. The Health Amendment Act 1883, and successive legislation in the guise of the Health Act 1890, Infant Life Protection Acts from 1890, Children's Welfare Acts from 1954 and the Community Welfare Services Act 1970 specified inquests into the deaths of infant wards of the State under suspicious circumstances in houses registered under the above acts. (Inquests relating to all such deaths irrespective of suspicion were required between 1890 and 1907.) Additionally, the Mental Deficiency Act 1939 directed that inquests were not required in cases of defective or retarded children who died whilst detained in any mental hospital until that provision was abolished by the Mental Health Act 1959.

The nature of coronial investigations changed when the Coroner's Act 1985 became operative on 1 June 1986. Section 3 of the Act specifies a range of "reportable" deaths which the newly created State Coroner's Office had to investigate. Section 15 requires that an inquest be held in cases where the State Coroner suspects homicide, when the State Coroner or Attorney-General directs, when the identity of the deceased was unknown or in cases where the deceased was held, immediately before death, under the control, care or custody of either Community Services or Office of Corrections institutions, a member of the police force, an assessment or treatment centre registered under the Alcoholics and Drug Dependant Persons Act 1968 or an institution registered under the Mental Health Act 1959 (excepting voluntary patients). Inquests were also required under circumstances prescribed in the Coroners Regulations, although at the time of writing, none have been. This has significantly reduced the number of inquests held annually. Documentation on which a Coroner has relied in investigating all reportable deaths, including those which have resulted in an inquest are to be found in VPRS 10010 Body Cards. However, under the PROV Records Authority PROS 99/05 the State Coroner was authorised to destroy Body Cards where an inquest was held into the death, 15 years after the completion of the case (see VPRS 24 Inquest Deposition Files for information on these cases). Where an investigation finds that a death was the result of natural causes, a Body Card may be destroyed after 25 years.

Inquests relating to fires can still be heard but only if the coroner deems one advisable, if directed by the Attorney-General, or if requested by either an individual, the Country Fire Authority or the Melbourne Metropolitan Fire Brigade.

Prior to 1970, an important requisite for the conduct of an inquest was the existence of a body or parts thereof. It has only been since the passing of the Coroners (Amendment) Act of that year that an inquest could be held on a person whose body had not been recovered, but such inquests were subject to the approval of the Attorney-General.

CORONERS AND JURORS
Inquests were presided over by a coroner, the earliest being either police magistrates, barristers, solicitors or doctors. Findings were initially made on the basis of a verdict handed down by a jury of at least 12 persons, with agreement required from 12 members. Coroners were directed to lock juries in a place without meat, drink or fire until agreement was reached. From 1887 juries consisted of between 5 and 12 members with a majority verdict being accepted. Juries were to be discharged if a verdict were not reached within two hours. The use of juries was abolished by an amendment to the Coroner's Act in 1903, although the Act specified their presence in cases where a coroner considered it desirable, whenever the Attorney-General or Crown Solicitor ordered one or if one was expressly provided for in an Act. In this latter instance a jury was only specified by the Coal Mines Regulation Act 1909, and Mines Acts from 1928 for all inquests into deaths occurring in mines, however this provision was abolished by the Juries Act 1956. A jury can also be utilised if a request were made by either a relative of the deceased, a person with knowledge of the circumstances leading to the death or a member of the police force. Unanimous verdicts were reintroduced under the 1985 Act and the two-hour time limit was abolished. In all other cases a verdict was made by the coroner alone. In all inquests, irrespective of the presence of a jury, verdicts were to be reached on the basis of a personal view of the body (compulsory until 1953), the testimony of medical and other witnesses and any other evidence produced at the inquest.

SCOPE OF PROCEEDINGS
The scope of inquest proceedings was limited to determining the exact medical cause of death. Any other matters were not to be pursued except in inquests relating to deaths of infant wards of the State, where the coroner was allowed to inquire into any matters concerning the treatment and condition of the infant and any other matter considered to be in the public interest.

CRIMINAL CASES
An inquest was not a forum for proving the guilt of suspected persons. Prior to 1986 a coroner could find that a death was the result of an alleged criminal act and thus commit a person to trial, issue warrants for that person's arrest and, if applicable, organise bail. If it appeared beforehand that a person would be committed, any pending committal proceedings were suspended and the inquest assumed that function. As of June 1986, an

The 2008 National Demographic and Health Survey (2008 NDHS) is a nationally representative survey of 13,594 women age 15-49 from 12,469 households successfully interviewed, covering 794 enumeration areas (clusters) throughout the Philippines. This survey is the ninth in a series of demographic and health surveys conducted to assess the demographic and health situation in the country. The survey obtained detailed information on fertility levels, marriage, fertility preferences, awareness and use of family planning methods, breastfeeding practices, nutritional status of women and young children, childhood mortality, maternal and child health, and knowledge and attitudes regarding HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. Also, for the first time, the Philippines NDHS gathered information on violence against women. The 2008 NDHS was conducted by the Philippine National Statistics Office (NSO). Technical assistance was provided by ICF Macro through the MEASURE DHS program. Funding for the survey was mainly provided by the Government of the Philippines. Financial support for some preparatory and processing phases of the survey was provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Like previous Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) conducted in the Philippines, the 2008 National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) was primarily designed to provide information on population, family planning, and health to be used in evaluating and designing policies, programs, and strategies for improving health and family planning services in the country. The 2008 NDHS also included questions on domestic violence. Specifically, the 2008 NDHS had the following objectives: Collect data at the national level that will allow the estimation of demographic rates, particularly, fertility rates by urban-rural residence and region, and under-five mortality rates at the national level. Analyze the direct and indirect factors which determine the levels and patterns of fertility. Measure the level of contraceptive knowledge and practice by method, urban-rural residence, and region. Collect data on family health: immunizations, prenatal and postnatal checkups, assistance at delivery, breastfeeding, and prevalence and treatment of diarrhea, fever, and acute respiratory infections among children under five years. Collect data on environmental health, utilization of health facilities, prevalence of common noncommunicable and infectious diseases, and membership in health insurance plans. Collect data on awareness of tuberculosis. Determine women's knowledge about HIV/AIDS and access to HIV testing. Determine the extent of violence against women. MAIN RESULTS FERTILITY Fertility Levels and Trends. There has been a steady decline in fertility in the Philippines in the past 36 years. From 6.0 children per woman in 1970, the total fertility rate (TFR) in the Philippines declined to 3.3 children per woman in 2006. The current fertility level in the country is relatively high compared with other countries in Southeast Asia, such as Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia, where the TFR is below 2 children per woman. Fertility Differentials. Fertility varies substantially across subgroups of women. Urban women have, on average, 2.8 children compared with 3.8 children per woman in rural areas. The level of fertility has a negative relationship with education; the fertility rate of women who have attended college (2.3 children per woman) is about half that of women who have been to elementary school (4.5 children per woman). Fertility also decreases with household wealth: women in wealthier households have fewer children than those in poorer households. FAMILY PLANNING Knowledge of Contraception. Knowledge of family planning is universal in the Philippines- almost all women know at least one method of fam-ily planning. At least 90 percent of currently married women have heard of the pill, male condoms, injectables, and female sterilization, while 87 percent know about the IUD and 68 percent know about male sterilization. On average, currently married women know eight methods of family planning. Unmet Need for Family Planning. Unmet need for family planning is defined as the percentage of currently married women who either do not want any more children or want to wait before having their next birth, but are not using any method of family planning. The 2008 NDHS data show that the total unmet need for family planning in the Philippines is 22 percent, of which 13 percent is limiting and 9 percent is for spacing. The level of unmet need has increased from 17 percent in 2003. Overall, the total demand for family planning in the Philippines is 73 percent, of which 69 percent has been satisfied. If all of need were satisfied, a contraceptive prevalence rate of about 73 percent could, theoretically, be expected. Comparison with the 2003 NDHS indicates that the percentage of demand satisfied has declined from 75 percent. MATERNAL HEALTH Antenatal Care. Nine in ten Filipino mothers received some antenatal care (ANC) from a medical professional, either a nurse or midwife (52 percent) or a doctor (39 percent). Most women have at least four antenatal care visits. More than half (54 percent) of women had an antenatal care visit during the first trimester of pregnancy, as recommended. While more than 90 percent of women who received antenatal care had their blood pressure monitored and weight measured, only 54 percent had their urine sample taken and 47 percent had their blood sample taken. About seven in ten women were informed of pregnancy complications. Three in four births in the Philippines are protected against neonatal tetanus. Delivery and Postnatal Care. Only 44 percent of births in the Philippines occur in health facilities-27 percent in a public facility and 18 percent in a private facility. More than half (56 percent) of births are still delivered at home. Sixty-two percent of births are assisted by a health professional-35 percent by a doctor and 27 percent by a midwife or nurse. Thirty-six percent are assisted by a traditional birth attendant or hilot. About 10 percent of births are delivered by C-section. The Department of Health (DOH) recommends that mothers receive a postpartum check within 48 hours of delivery. A majority of women (77 percent) had a postnatal checkup within two days of delivery; 14 percent had a postnatal checkup 3 to 41 days after delivery. CHILD HEALTH Childhood Mortality. Childhood mortality continues to decline in the Philippines. Currently, about one in every 30 children in the Philippines dies before his or her fifth birthday. The infant mortality rate for the five years before the survey (roughly 2004-2008) is 25 deaths per 1,000 live births and the under-five mortality rate is 34 deaths per 1,000 live births. This is lower than the rates of 29 and 40 reported in 2003, respectively. The neonatal mortality rate, representing death in the first month of life, is 16 deaths per 1,000 live births. Under-five mortality decreases as household wealth increases; children from the poorest families are three times more likely to die before the age of five as those from the wealthiest families. There is a strong association between under-five mortality and mother's education. It ranges from 47 deaths per 1,000 live births among children of women with elementary education to 18 deaths per 1,000 live births among children of women who attended college. As in the 2003 NDHS, the highest level of under-five mortality is observed in ARMM (94 deaths per 1,000 live births), while the lowest is observed in NCR (24 deaths per 1,000 live births). NUTRITION Breastfeeding Practices. Eighty-eight percent of children born in the Philippines are breastfed. There has been no change in this practice since 1993. In addition, the median durations of any breastfeeding and of exclusive breastfeeding have remained at 14 months and less than one month, respectively. Although it is recommended that infants should not be given anything other than breast milk until six months of age, only one-third of Filipino children under six months are exclusively breastfed. Complementary foods should be introduced when a child is six months old to reduce the risk of malnutrition. More than half of children ages 6-9 months are eating complementary foods in addition to being breastfed. The Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) guidelines contain specific recommendations for the number of times that young children in various age groups should be fed each day as well as the number of food groups from which they should be fed. NDHS data indicate that just over half of children age 6-23 months (55 percent) were fed according to the IYCF guidelines. HIV/AIDS Awareness of HIV/AIDS. While over 94 percent of women have heard of AIDS, only 53 percent know the two major methods for preventing transmission of HIV (using condoms and limiting sex to one uninfected partner). Only 45 percent of young women age 15-49 know these two methods for preventing HIV transmission. Knowledge of prevention methods is higher in urban areas than in rural areas and increases dramatically with education and wealth. For example, only 16 percent of women with no education know that using condoms limits the risk of HIV infection compared with 69 percent of those who have attended college. TUBERCULOSIS Knowledge of TB. While awareness of tuberculosis (TB) is high, knowledge of its causes and symptoms is less common. Only 1 in 4 women know that TB is caused by microbes, germs or bacteria. Instead, respondents tend to say that TB is caused by smoking or drinking alcohol, or that it is inherited. Symptoms associated with TB are better recognized. Over half of the respondents cited coughing, while 39 percent mentioned weight loss, 35 percent mentioned blood in sputum, and 30 percent cited coughing with sputum. WOMEN'S STATUS Women's Status and Employment.

The Kagera Health and Development Survey was conducted for the research project on “The Economic Impact of Fatal Adult Illness due to AIDS and Other Causes”, Mead Over (Principal Investigator, World Bank), Martha Ainsworth (Co-investigator, World Bank), and Godlike Koda, George Lwihula, Phare Mujinja, and Innocent Semali (Co-investigators, University of Dar es Salaam). The primary objective of the Kagera Health and Development Survey (KHDS) was to estimate the economic impact of the death of prime-age adults on surviving household members. This impact was primarily measured as the difference in well-being between households with and without the death of a prime-age adult (15-50), over time. An additional hypothesis was that households in communities with high mortality rates might be less successful in coping with a prime-age adult death. Thus, the research design called for collecting extensive socioeconomic information from households with and without adult deaths in communities with high and low adult mortality rates. Data collected by the KHDS can be used to estimate the "direct costs” of illness and mortality in terms of out-of-pocket expenditures, the "indirect costs" in terms of foregone earnings of the patient, and the "coping costs” in terms of changes in the well-being of other household members and in the allocation on of time and resources within the household as these events unfold. The KHDS was an economic survey. It did not attempt to measure knowledge, attitudes, behaviors or practices related to HIV infection or AIDS in households or communities. It also did not collect blood samples or attempt to measure HIV seroprevalence; this would have substantially affected the costs and complexity of the research and possibly the willingness of households to participate. Information on the cause of death in the KHDS household survey is based on the reports of surviving household members; the researchers maintained that household coping will respond to the perceived cause of death, irrespective of whether the deceased actually died of AIDS. Lastly, the KHDS did not attempt to measure the psycho-social impact of HIV infection or AIDS deaths. OVERVIEW OF THE RESEARCH DESIGN The research design called for a longitudinal survey of a sample of households, some of which would experience an adult death and some of which would not, some of them drawn from communities with high adult mortality rates, and some drawn from low-mortality communities. The sampling frame for the survey was based on the 1988 Tanzania Census, which also provided information on adult death rates by ward within Kagera region. While it was possible to determine which communities had relatively high and low adult death rates from the census data, two additional problems arose that led to the decision for a stratified sample of households based on multiple criteria: First, despite the high rates of HIV infection in Kagera and the large number of deaths over time due to AIDS, the death of a prime-age adult is still a relatively rare event over a short time period. This meant that a very large sample would have had to be selected in order to ensure that the survey could interview enough families suffering our about to suffer the death of a prime-age adult. Second, HIV prevalence and adult mortality rates in Kagera were geographically concentrated and thus strongly correlated with different climates and cropping patterns. The highest rural HIV infection rates were in the northeast (10% in Bukoba Rural and Muleba districts and 24% in the town of Bukoba), where tree crops (bananas, coffee) were predominant, while the lowest rates were in the south and west (0.4% in Ngara and Biharamulo districts), where perennial crops and livestock are more common (Killewo and others 1990). A survey design stratified only on mortality rates might confound the effects of high mortality with different agricultural, soil, and rainfall patterns. Thus, the sample of households was selected from a stratified random sample of communities from the 1988 census (stratified on agroclimatic zone and adult mortality rate). Within communities, the household sample was stratified according to the anticipated risk of each household of suffering a prime-age adult death. Households were classified as “high-risk” or “low-risk”, based on information obtained from a house-to-house enumeration of all selected communities. One additional concern was that the high mortality of households might lead to attrition from the sample that is systematically related to household coping. For example, if out-migration is an important coping behavior, then the most severely affected households might leave the sample and the analysis of the remaining households would understate the economic impact of adult deaths. For this reason, at the conclusion of the fieldwork, interviewers attempted to locate and interview all of the individuals who were members of households that dropped out of the longitudinal survey between the first and last interviews, and who were still resident in the region. Individuals were given a specially designed “follow-up questionnaire” that included much of the individual information collected in the household questionnaire, plus information on the reason for leaving the sample and the characteristics of the household were they were now residing. The final longitudinal household survey followed 816 households at 6-7 month intervals, over a 24-month period from 1991-94. The 816 households were selected from 51 “clusters” of 16 households each located in 49 villages or urban areas representing four economic zones of all districts in Kagera region and, within each zone, representing areas with both high and low adult mortality. Because household coping behavior is conditioned on local prices, services, and available programs, the KHDS also collected data from the communities from which households were drawn, local markets, the nearest source of modern medical care, and all of the primary schools in the community. This information was collected longitudinally, with the exception of a questionnaire for traditional healers, which was administered only once. While households were drawn from a stratified random sample of households, the health facilities, schools, markets and healers interviewed represent those closest to each community and thus are not random samples that are statistically representative of Kagera facilities. The panel survey was conducted in a total of five waves. Wave 1 September 1991 May 1992 Wave 2 April 1992 November 1992 Wave 3 November 1992 May 1993 Wave 4 June 1993 January 1994 Wave 5 2004