Sonja Firth
Biographic Data
| ID | 3927758 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Sonja Firth |
| GIVEN NAMES | Sonja |
| FAMILY NAME | Firth |
| SIGNATURE | FIRTH S |
| AFFILIATIONS | The University of Melbourne |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-2189-0263 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 11 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 1 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 11 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
WHO launches global network of institutes to strengthen capacity for health inequality monitoring
This article introduces the global WHO-managed Health Inequality Monitoring Network, which is dedicated to strengthening and expanding health inequality monitoring practices at global, regional and country levels. Launched in 2025, the Health Inequality Monitoring Network consists of 12 inaugural institutional members, represented by over 140 affiliated individuals spanning all world regions. The Network aims to: strengthen capacities for health …
Estimating causes of community death of adults in Myanmar from a nationwide population sample
In Myanmar 84% of deaths occur in the community, of which half are unregistered and none have a reliable cause of death (COD) recorded. Since 2018, Myanmar has introduced improved registration practices and verbal autopsy (VA) to assess whether such methods can produce policy relevant information on community COD. Community health midwives and public health supervisors grade II collected VAs on over 80,000 deaths which occurred between January 20…
Monitoring progress with national and subnational health goals by integrating verbal autopsy and medically certified cause of death data
INTRODUCTION: The measurement of progress towards many Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and other health goals requires accurate and timely all-cause and cause of death (COD) data. However, existing guidance to countries to calculate these indicators is inadequate for populations with incomplete death registration and poor-quality COD data. We introduce a replicable method to estimate national and subnational cause-specific mortality rates (an…
Routine mortality surveillance to identify the cause of death pattern for out-of-hospital adult (aged 12+ years) deaths in Bangladesh
Routine VA collection using automated methods is feasible, can produce plausible results and provides critical information on community COD in Bangladesh. Routine VA and VIPER have potential application to countries with weak death registration systems
Integrating community-based verbal autopsy into civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS)
BACKGROUND: Reliable and representative cause of death (COD) statistics are essential to inform public health policy, respond to emerging health needs, and document progress towards Sustainable Development Goals. However, less than one-third of deaths worldwide are assigned a cause. Civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) systems in low- and lower-middle-income countries are failing to provide timely, complete and accurate vital statistics…
New challenges for verbal autopsy
Utilisation of health services and the poor
This study has found moderate wealth-based disparities in the utilisation of institutional delivery in the Philippines. The results confirm the importance of recent efforts made by the Philippine government to implement equitable, pro-poor focused health programs in the most deprived geographic areas of the country. The importance of addressing the social determinants of health, particularly education, as well as developing and implementing effec…
Linkages between Decentralisation and Inequalities in Neonatal Health
This study uses five waves of the Indonesian Demographic Health Surveys to analyse decentralisation and geographical inequality in health services delivery. Accounting for unobserved community-level heterogeneity with random effects and correlated random effects models, we link facility-based birth delivery to the period of decentralisation and Indonesia’s major island groups using a pooled sample of 71,815 children. We also generate direct estim…
Neonatal Mortality and Inequalities in Bangladesh
Disparities in child mortality trends in two new states of India
The results suggest that rural health improvements may have come at the expense of urban areas, where poor performance may be attributed to factors such as lack of access to quality private health facilities. In addition, the disparities may in part be associated with geographical access, traditional practices and district-level health resource allocation
Investment case for improving maternal and child health
National strategies that do not take into consideration the special circumstances of disadvantaged areas risk disempowering local managers and may lead to a "business-as-usual" acceptance of unreachable goals. To effectively guide health service delivery at a local level, national plans should adopt typologies that reflect the different problems and strategies to scale up key MNCH interventions
Disparities in child mortality trends in two new states of India
The results suggest that rural health improvements may have come at the expense of urban areas, where poor performance may be attributed to factors such as lack of access to quality private health facilities. In addition, the disparities may in part be associated with geographical access, traditional practices and district-level health resource allocation
Investment case for improving maternal and child health
National strategies that do not take into consideration the special circumstances of disadvantaged areas risk disempowering local managers and may lead to a "business-as-usual" acceptance of unreachable goals. To effectively guide health service delivery at a local level, national plans should adopt typologies that reflect the different problems and strategies to scale up key MNCH interventions
Linkages between Decentralisation and Inequalities in Neonatal Health
This study uses five waves of the Indonesian Demographic Health Surveys to analyse decentralisation and geographical inequality in health services delivery. Accounting for unobserved community-level heterogeneity with random effects and correlated random effects models, we link facility-based birth delivery to the period of decentralisation and Indonesia’s major island groups using a pooled sample of 71,815 children. We also generate direct estim…
Neonatal Mortality and Inequalities in Bangladesh
Utilisation of health services and the poor
This study has found moderate wealth-based disparities in the utilisation of institutional delivery in the Philippines. The results confirm the importance of recent efforts made by the Philippine government to implement equitable, pro-poor focused health programs in the most deprived geographic areas of the country. The importance of addressing the social determinants of health, particularly education, as well as developing and implementing effec…
Integrating community-based verbal autopsy into civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS)
BACKGROUND: Reliable and representative cause of death (COD) statistics are essential to inform public health policy, respond to emerging health needs, and document progress towards Sustainable Development Goals. However, less than one-third of deaths worldwide are assigned a cause. Civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) systems in low- and lower-middle-income countries are failing to provide timely, complete and accurate vital statistics…
New challenges for verbal autopsy
Monitoring progress with national and subnational health goals by integrating verbal autopsy and medically certified cause of death data
INTRODUCTION: The measurement of progress towards many Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and other health goals requires accurate and timely all-cause and cause of death (COD) data. However, existing guidance to countries to calculate these indicators is inadequate for populations with incomplete death registration and poor-quality COD data. We introduce a replicable method to estimate national and subnational cause-specific mortality rates (an…
Routine mortality surveillance to identify the cause of death pattern for out-of-hospital adult (aged 12+ years) deaths in Bangladesh
Routine VA collection using automated methods is feasible, can produce plausible results and provides critical information on community COD in Bangladesh. Routine VA and VIPER have potential application to countries with weak death registration systems
Estimating causes of community death of adults in Myanmar from a nationwide population sample
In Myanmar 84% of deaths occur in the community, of which half are unregistered and none have a reliable cause of death (COD) recorded. Since 2018, Myanmar has introduced improved registration practices and verbal autopsy (VA) to assess whether such methods can produce policy relevant information on community COD. Community health midwives and public health supervisors grade II collected VAs on over 80,000 deaths which occurred between January 20…
WHO launches global network of institutes to strengthen capacity for health inequality monitoring
This article introduces the global WHO-managed Health Inequality Monitoring Network, which is dedicated to strengthening and expanding health inequality monitoring practices at global, regional and country levels. Launched in 2025, the Health Inequality Monitoring Network consists of 12 inaugural institutional members, represented by over 140 affiliated individuals spanning all world regions. The Network aims to: strengthen capacities for health …
Global Maternal and Child Health (10 works) · Medicine (9 works) · Environmental health (8 works) · Public health (8 works) · Population (6 works) · Cause of death (5 works) · Pathology (5 works) · Verbal autopsy (5 works) · Autopsy Techniques and Outcomes (4 works) · Demography (4 works)