Reference Data Archive
Published:
The Reference Data Archive (RDA) is a publicly accessible archive and analytics infrastructure for mortality data hosted by the World Health Organization. It is designed to make mortality-related datasets easier to discover, understand, and reuse, including verbal autopsy reference deaths with trustworthy reference causes and supporting metadata.
My roles and contributions
As a core developer and platform manager, I led design and implementation work for the software infrastructure supporting end-to-end data ingestion, processing, and dissemination, including integration with the NADA API and user-facing APIs. I developed operational workflows and documentation for users, administrators, data managers, and data providers, including user guides, training materials, standard operating procedures, and protocols. I also coordinated technical implementation with data engineering and IT collaborators at OSU, AHRI, and WHO.
What the project enables
- A browsable and searchable metadata archive for mortality surveillance and global health datasets, with supporting documentation and metadata
- A trusted analytics environment that supports reproducible work with archived datasets, code, and documentation
Why it matters
Reliable mortality measurement depends not only on algorithms, but also on the infrastructure that makes high-quality data usable. The RDA strengthens the global mortality research ecosystem by improving access to curated reference datasets, centralizing methodological documentation, and lowering barriers to data access, reuse, and reproducible research.