Tuberculosis and HIV are the leading causes of adult death in northwest Ethiopia: evidence from verbal autopsy data of Dabat health and demographic surveillance system, 2007–2013

Background Reliable data on causes of death form the basis for building evidence on health policy, planning, monitoring, and evaluation. In Ethiopia, the majority of deaths occur at home and civil registration systems are not yet functional. The main objective of verbal autopsy (VA) is to describe the causes of death at the community or population level where civil registration and death certification systems are weak and where most people die at home without having had contact with the health system.