FROM CRADLE TO GRAVE

THE Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Environment has initiated steps to attain the universal target for the registration of births and deaths.
As part of the efforts, the ministry has undertaken to retool the Births and Deaths Registry to enable the unit to effectively perform its functions.
This has come late in the day, but it is better late than never, given the relevance of the Births and Deaths Registry in the collection of reliable data for the formulation of policies. Even more disturbing is the fact that birth and death registration, for so long a time, has not been attended to with the seriousness it deserves.
Presently, birth and death registration covers only 62 per cent of the population and to attain the universal target of birth and death registration there is the need to cover about 95 per cent of the population.
It is ironic that although birth and death registration has existed for about 100 years, many Ghanaians don’t see it as an important exercise in the quest to develop good policies to help the country attain the level of economic growth it aspires to.
It is important to note that the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1965 (Act 301) was in response to the realisation of the importance of population statistics in the formulation of development policies.
Clearly, despite the institution of a National Birth Registration Day, which falls on September 1, every year, it appears that a lot more work needs to be done to ensure that the populace appreciates the relevance of such registration.
The far-reaching and long-term impact of birth and death registration may be lost on many Ghanaians, as in the heat of the excitement at the birth of a child or grief at the loss of a loved one there is the tendency to relegate such registration to the background.
Understandably, the Births and Deaths Registry exists to provide accurate and reliable information on all births and deaths occurring in the country for the socio-economic development of the country through their registration and certification.
The DAILY GRAPHIC, while welcoming the decision to adequately resource the registry to enable it function effectively, wishes to caution against the tendency to pay lip service to such vital state institutions.
For so long a time we seem to have neglected this unit and the time to address its needs has been long overdue. Beyond providing the necessary logistics, efforts aimed at publicising birth and death registration and educating the populace on its usefulness must be pursued relentlessly.
It is also important to note that effective and extensive computerisation of the process is one sure way of improving coverage of the exercise and ensuring that the database from such exercises truly reflects the real situation on the ground.
We also urge the relevant state institutions to support the registry’s computerisation programme to cover all the 138 district registration offices to facilitate the data collection process required for national development.
Furthermore, the DAILY GRAPHIC wishes to stress that this noble objective of computerising all district registration offices be relentlessly pursued to ensure that set targets are attained.
We also wish to commend organisations such as UNICEF and PLAN International for their support to the Births and Deaths Registry over the years and urge them to continue to assist the unit to pursue its noble mission of capturing data from the cradle to the grave.