Mortality data, especially concerning deaths by cause, are critical for understanding the burden of disease, planning and monitoring of interventions aimed at reducing morbidity and mortality, as well as monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals for health (goal 3). In sub-Saharan Africa and most limited resource settings where burdens of diseases are high, there is a chronic lack of accurate and reliable data on mortality and causes of death. In these settings, complete diagnostic autopsy is only available in large hospitals and is unaffordable to most people. In addition, most deaths occur at the community level, and for facility deaths, physician medical certification of cause of death using medical information is not systematically completed. Available recent mortality and cause-of-death statistics are mostly based on modeling or periodic national surveys. Although they represent important tools, the uncertainty or long time intervals associated with their estimates challenge their use for precise or timely policy and program planning. Progressive efforts undertaken by low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to revamp and expand their civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) systems are commendable and timely. However, the time and resource needs in terms of infrastructure, technology, equipment, human resources, and demand creation to reach the entire population with a fully functional CRVS system are enormous and deprioritized in favor of more pressing demands in health care. The recent COVID-19 pandemic and emergence of epidemics across LMICs unveiled the vulnerabilities and challenges associated with the lack of or weak mortality data systems that can support planning, monitoring, and decision-making in these countries. In this context, building sustainable and resilient mortality surveillance systems that provide high-quality and timely mortality data represents a priority in Africa, as recently expressed in a newly developed continental framework for strengthening mortality surveillance in Africa by the Africa CDC.