Probability of dying as a result of a given disease. Is a result of a mixture of disease severity and quality of health care.
Numerator
Total number of fatalities related to the disease in a defined administrative or health area in a given time period
Denominator
Total number of cases related to the disease in the same administrative or health area and the same time period
Disaggregation
Administrative area; health area; sex
Indicator used for response monitoring ?
Yes
Types
Baseline
Threshold / Standard
Cholera : 1 per cent or lower; Shigella dysentery : 1 per cent or lower; typhoid : 1 per cent or lower; meningococcal meningitis : varies, 5-15 per cent; malaria : varies, aim for <5 per cent in severely ill malaria patients; measles : varies, 2-21 per cent reported in conflict-affected settings, aim for <5 per cent. Follow-up of trends
General guidance
Interpretation: the CFR is an indicator of the quality of case management, late arrival at the facility or severity of disease. Limitations: most likely to be biased upwards because only more severe cases normally go to clinics.
Guidance on phases
There is a differing level of quality of data which can be collected at different phases of the emergency depending on the context, eg the data available and the systems for data collection in place before the crisis, the accessibility of the affected areas, the resources on the ground, etc...
Phase applicability
Pre-crisis/Baseline
Phase 1
Phase 2
Phase 3
Phase 4
Data Sources
Numerator: health facility based surveillance; routine health facility reporting system Denominator: health facility based surveillance; routine health facility reporting system
Comments
Further guidance: IDSR guide CDC Afro. NB: This indicator is relevant to WASH only for certain diseases. (http://www.cdc.gov/globalhealth/dphswd/idsr/pdf/Technical%20Guidelines/IDSR%20Technical%20Guidelines%202nd%20Edition_2010_English.pdf)