October 27, 2021
By: James Kamara-Manneh
The national civil registration authority (NCRA) has on the 26th October, 2021 held a meeting with stakeholders on strengthen births and death registration services at Sierra Palm hotel in Freetown.
The director general of NCRA, Mohamed Massaquoi said that this engagement will force particularly with the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, senior officers from the ministry headquarter, district medical officers, M&E officers. These officers basically involve in data collection and processing involves the registration of births and deaths in the country.
Mr. Massaquoi stated that the reason for the engagements is to solicit ways for strengthen the process of registration for births and deaths. He emphasis that the registration of births and death is in snail pace and little has been recognize over the years, therefore as an institution they want to make ensure of accurate data in the event that characterize every citizens existence in the country.
NCRA D.G further dilated that the Ministry of Health and Sanitation are key players in this process and the record collated from different towns, villages and district put together will give an accurate data for both the living and the dead.
D.G emphasis the importance of this meeting that week long training is ongoing in various districts around the country for all community health workers, staff of NCRA, district health officers.
On the issues of challenges, Mr. Massaquoi said staff from the peripherals health unit have not committed to the process and to see it as a routine work that requires all to play active role. He said the institution is working with various institutions, especially those in the provinces where frequent issues of registration occur, and that none of them go on noticed by the chiefs or the clergy.
He said the purpose of the mobile app is to make everyone accountable and the institution can be notified of any events.
“…anyone who issue out certification of any kind should be accountable and that there is a trail of it…in this new dispensation there is a paradigm shift certificate have been securitize,” he said.
Whereas the Minister of Health and Sanitation, Dr. Austin Demby said that two of the most important events in human lives are the documentation of arrival and the exit document. He described it as one of the most profound and personal records that define a person with a true sense of belonging, and the absence of both documents can be unfathomable.
Dr. Demby said the completeness of births and deaths records in 2020 were as low as 34.2% and 16.2%, such inefficiencies of birth records has major implications for effective care and monitoring of babies during their critical stage of lives.
“I am heartened by the fact that through an MOU between NCRA and the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, we have arrived at a mutually supportive solution,” said the Minister.
The minister expressed confidence that the health ministry will bring efficiencies, effectiveness, completeness, and timeliness to the service of the nation and to every individual.
The program was chaired by the Deputy Internal Minister of Affairs, Lahai Lawrence Leema , who also made salient points on behalf of the government in support of the birth and death registration nationwide, while statements were also made from representatives of WHO, Dr. Salassi Amah D’Almeida and also UNICEF.
The program was climaxed with presentations from various regions.