Media Coverage Regarding Data on Mortality in Iraq

• Activity Number: 441
• Type: Roundtables
• Date/Time: Wednesday, August 1, 2007 : 12:30 PM to 1:50 PM
• Sponsor: Social Statistics Section
• Author(s): Leslie Roberts*+ and Gilbert Burnham and Shannon Doocy
• Companies: Columbia Mailman School of Public Health and Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins University
• Keywords: cluster sample ; survey ; Iraq ; mortality

Abstract

Between May and July 2006, a national mortality survey was conducted in Iraq. The results were reported in The Lancet in October of 2006; the survey found that by July 2006, there had been 655,000 (CI: 393,000--943,000) excess deaths above the pre-war baseline in Iraq as a consequence of the war. Media coverage of the results emphasized the controversial nature of the study, in spite of the conventional methods employed, and has continued to focus on lower surveillance estimates based on morgue and hospital records. This is because of the difficulties of communicating sample results, the extremely incomplete nature of vital record-keeping in settings of extreme violence, and successful spinning of the story by parties with nonscientific agendas. The discussion leader will outline his experiences with the press as an author of this study.