Cause of Death Determination Ascertainment (CODA)

The Cause of Death Determination Ascertainment (CODA) project is a Gates Foundation initiative focused on improving cause-of-death assignment using artificial intelligence. The project is being coordinated through a global consortium led by Vital Strategies and is aimed at strengthening death data in settings where reliable cause-of-death information is still limited.

I am a core member of the project team, contributing to the design and development of algorithms for AI-enabled cause-of-death determination.

Project focus

• Improve cause-of-death assignment in low-resource settings
• Develop and test AI-driven approaches for death data systems
• Support more reliable mortality evidence for policy and planning

Why it matters

Cause-of-death data is foundational for public health decision-making, but many deaths worldwide still occur without reliable documentation. CODA is part of a broader effort to make death data more accurate, scalable, and useful for health systems.