VA Explorer: A Full Service VA Management Prototype

An example VA Interview
Image from healthdata.org/data-tools-practices/verbal-autopsy

Verbal autopsies (VAs) are a World Health Organization (WHO) -standardized tool for conducting structured interviews to determine an individual’s most likely cause of death (CoD). VAs use information from next of kin, or witnesses, regarding symptoms and health history of the deceased prior to their death.

VA Explorer is an open-source web application built to help individuals and organizations support the management, analysis, and dissemination of VAs. VA Explorer aims to support integration with existing civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) systems at scale while simplifying the use of VAs for those individuals and organizations.

This documentation aims to be a universal reference for everything related to VA Explorer. For example:

• If you are interested in using VA Explorer immediately, Getting Started walks users through installing and running the service.

• For evaluating whether VA Explorer meets your or your organization’s needs, more information on supported features can be found in Features while more info on the CRVS systems VA Explorer works with can be found in Integrations

• Those running an instance of VA Explorer already who would like to become more familiar with what they can do in their system role as an Admin, Data Manager, Data Viewer, or Field Worker can do so in User Training or Admin Training

• Users wishing to report bugs, request features, or developers wishing to contribute to the VA Explorer effort can find resources in Development

Contents:

Usage

• Getting Started
  • Installation & Setup
    • Obtain a server (either your own hardware or cloud provider)
    • Obtain a web address/domain name
    • Prepare server to host VA Explorer
    • Deploy and run VA Explorer via Docker
    • Create your first Admin account and log in
  • Configuration & Deployment
  • Tips & Best Practices
    • Setting up a mail server
    • Implementing server monitoring
    • Configuring things for better security
• Features
  • Tablet Friendly Interface
  • User Identity & Access Management
  • VA Data Import
  • Data Collection Supervision
  • Processing & Analyzing of Cause of Death Data
  • Working with VA Questionnaires
  • Processed Data Export
• Integrations
  • Networking
  • ODK Central
  • KoboToolbox
  • DHIS2
  • Algorithm Support
    • pyCrossVA
    • InterVA5

Guides

• General Information
  • The VA Questionnaire
  • Your VA Explorer Account
    • User Roles & Capabilities
    • Common Actions
• User Roles
  • Data Managers
    • Viewing Users & Supervision Information
    • Exporting Data
    • Running Data Cleanup Operations
    • Repairing VA Errors & Warnings
  • Data Viewers
  • Field Workers
    • Partially Repairing VA Errors & Warnings
• The Admin Role
  • User Admin
    • Loading Locations for Geographic Access Support
    • Creating & Editing Users
    • Deactivating Users
    • Bulk Creating Users
  • Data Admin
    • Manually Importing Data
    • Manually Running Coding Algorithms
  • Management Commands
• IT Support
  • Levels of Support Recommended for VA Explorer
  • Backing Up VA Explorer
  • Upgrading VA Explorer
• Troubleshooting
  • Reading and Interpreting VA Explorer Logs
  • Frequently Asked Questions

Development

• Development
  • Setting Up & Building
  • Testing & Running Locally
  • Running Integrations Locally
  • Development Commands

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Last Updated: 2024-04-23