The COVID-19 pandemic is estimated to have caused nearly 15 million excess deaths globally by the end of 2021, more than twice the number of COVID-specific deaths reported. The Omicron waves in 2022 likely added to this total. In contrast to incidence and prevalence data, mortality data are high quality and complete. For most countries weekly or monthly age-sex specific death counts are released within six months and in many cases are available subnationally. These data have great potential for understanding epidemiology of infectious diseases, tracking the state of infectious diseases in the population, and assessing the performance of the public health and medical systems. This workshop will assemble the leading scholars on excess mortality estimation to both share their methodological expertise and to discuss the potential for improved collection and expanded use of mortality data.
Organized by the Centre for Global Health Research, this workshop will involve in-depth (45 minute) talks by the international invited speakers, a series of shorter presentations by several Canadian scientists, and panel discussions by influential practitioners and decision makers. Ample time will be allocated to group discussions, with a discussant giving a prepared response to each of the main presentations.
Speakers
- Jon Wakefield (U Washington)
- Ariel Karlinsky (Hebrew University, Israel)
- Marta Blangiardo (Imperial College, London)
Organizers
- Patrick Brown (UT Statistics and Unity Health Toronto)
- Monica Alexander (UT Sociology and UT Statistics)
- Prabhat Jha (UT DLSPH and Unity Health Toronto)