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 role in the project centers on platform development and stewardship. I am one of the lead developers and serve as a core manager for data and users, helping shape how datasets are organized, documented, accessed, and supported in practice.
What the project enables
- A browsable and searchable metadata archive for mortality datasets
- A repository for datasets related to mortality measurement, including verbal autopsy reference deaths
- An analytics environment that supports reproducible work with archived datasets
- Better support for automated cause-coding research by making high-value reference data more accessible
Why it matters
Reliable mortality measurement depends not only on algorithms, but also on data infrastructure. The RDA supports a stronger ecosystem for verbal autopsy and mortality research by improving access to curated reference data and by lowering the barriers to reuse, comparison, and validation.