Glossary

Type of selection bias specific to retrospective surveys, whereby households that

disappear during the recall period because of the death of all members and

consequent disintegration are not represented in the sample. It occurs when high

and/or very clustered mortality persists for a long period. Survival bias always results in

an under-estimation of mortality. (1)

(1) Checchi and Roberts, Interpreting and using mortality data in humanitarian

emergencies, ODI/HPN paper 52, 2005.

Ongoing collection of epidemiological data, with real-time analysis. Mortality

surveillance systems usually rely on home visitors who record deaths in households on

a weekly basis. (1)

(1) Checchi and Roberts, Interpreting and using mortality data in humanitarian

emergencies, ODI/HPN paper 52, 2005.

Both “natural” disasters (e.g. earthquakes, hurricanes, floods) and man-made or

"complex" disasters (e.g. sudden conflict situations arising from varied political factors),

for which there is little or no warning (1)

(1) WHO, Definitions: emergencies

The "straw man fallacy" is an informal falsehood based on the misrepresentation of

an opponent's reasoning; it consists in assembling a strong opposition argument

together with one or many weak ones to create a simplistic weak argument that can

easily be rejected.