Amenable mortality is widely accepted internationally as a valid and reliable indicator of health system performance. A death is considered amenable (treatable) if, in the light of medical knowledge and technology at the time of death, all or most deaths from that cause (subject to age limits if appropriate) could be avoided through good quality healthcare. Not all deaths from these causes could be avoided in practice. For example, because of comorbidity, frailty and patient preference. However, a higher than expected rate of such deaths may indicate that improvements are needed to access to care, or quality of care.