The burden of disease in Malawi.

For member states without a vital registration system as is Malawi, WHO uses other sources of adult mortality such as survey and census data to estimate the level of adult mortality. For under-five mortality, again, all available survey and census data are assessed, adjusted and averaged to estimate the probable trend in child mortality over the past few decades. For Malawi WHO used data from Census 77, Census 87, Census 98, Demographic and Health Survey 92, Demographic and Health Survey 2000, Family Formation Survey 84, National Demographic Survey 82 and the Population Change Survey 70. A life table for Malawi is then constructed providing the number of deaths by age and sex in 2002 3.