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Disclaimer / Limitations
This country’s legal measures were reviewed by our legal staff in consultation with in-country lawyers and/or CRVS legal experts. All efforts were made to ensure the accuracy of the legal analysis, however, if you consider there to be any discrepancies or if there have been changes in the law of the country since our staff last updated the legal analysis, we welcome any additional information or insights. Please contact us via this form.
Cause of Death
Zambia
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Zambia
Cause of Death
Certificates and Related Services
Certificates and Related Services
Death Certificate with cause of death information
Does the standard form death certificate include cause of death information?
No
Recommended Practice based on International Guidelines
Cause of death information, however, contains sensitive and often confidential medical information. Therefore, it is good practice to not include cause of death information on the standard form death certificate. To protect privacy while at the same time allowing for the provision of cause of death when needed, some countries provide for a long-form death certificate which contains cause of death information and a short-form death certificate which does not contain cause of death information. The long-form death certificate is only accessible to those with a legitimate interest in the cause of death, which may include family and government officials.
A death certificate (Form V) includes information on the cause of death; there is no option for a short form of death certificate without this information.
It appears that any person can obtain any other person’s death certificate on application to the Registrar-General or Deputy Registrar-General, or to a Registrar or Assistant Registrar under Rule 5 of the Births and Deaths Registration (General) Rules. Any person may also obtain a certified copy of any entry in any register, including the register of deaths, from the Registrar-General.
