NPMR Objectives

1. To develop and establish a national system/database for continuous national surveillance of all deaths in children aged 29 days to 15 completed years, regardless of cause and location.

2. To collaborate with Health Service Executive (HSE), Department of Health, and Department of Public Health to develop the national system/database and to promote best practice national guidelines (such as those incorporating safe sleep and child safety awareness).

3. To collaborate with stakeholders (e.g. individual hospitals and hospital groups, coroner service) in order to provide complete, standardised, robust and timely data on all childhood deaths.

4. To maintain a single national epidemiological database of information on all paediatric deaths from multiple sources, analyse data and report trends in rates and factors impacting on child mortality.

5. Use this information to provide evidence for informing policy aimed at improving outcomes and reducing the number of child deaths.