Achievements Since 2003

Trends in Birth Registration over the years 2000-2002 showed a steady decrease in coverage. For instance, in the year 2000, only 31 % of newly born babies were registered, falling to 27% in 2001 and to an all time low of around 17% in 2002. Due to the remedial interventions already outlined above, the figure rose slightly to 28% in 2003 and as at November 2004, the figure stood at 48.9%. This is expected to rise to over 50% by the end of 2004.

Table: Showing trends and coverage

Source: Registry of Births and Deaths (2004)

Ghana Birth Registration (2000-2004)

Resource Mobilization

Apart from limited budgetary allocation from Government, the Births and Deaths Registry will continue to receive support from UNICEF and PLAN.

In the long term however, it is expected that Birth Registration will also receive greater visibility given the determination of partners to ensure that the concern is reflected under the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy which is currently undergoing revision for the period 2006-2008.

Birth Registration will also be included as an emerging concern under the first national Social Protection Strategy which is being developed under the initiative of the Government of Ghana with support from the World Bank, the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DfID) and UNICEF.

The high level profile of these documents will increase the likelihood offuture financing under the Multi Donor Budget Support (MOBS) process, which is currently underway in Ghana.

The Birth Registry is Now Proactive

The Births and Deaths Registry, has decided to revolutionize the mode of collecting information on births. This involves the shift from the passive approach of data collection to a more active method.

This will include extensive use of mobile registration assistants who will make regular visits to communities within the registration areas to collect information on all births (and deaths) t~at have occurred within a period.

The Way Forward
In the year 2004, the Births and Deaths Registry has placed as its primary goal the improvement of coverage from 28% in 2003 to 40% with the possibility of reaching 60% in 2005.

Ghana has ratified both the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child which endorse birth registration in no uncertain terms. Article 7 of the former states that "the child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to a name and the right to acquire a nationality.

"This is a pledge that Ghana has made to her children, the nation and the international community as a whole. The question of births and deaths registration, therefore, is not a matter of choice but of commitment to action. All efforts will therefore be expended to ensure its full realization.

The Government of Ghana and, indeed, all of sub-Saharan Africa must begin to realize that failure to get all births registered implies denying the children involved their right to their nationality and an official identity. As emphasized by Dow (1998), "registration of birth is the state's first acknowledgement of a child's existence" and hence "represents recognition of a child's significance to the country and of his or her status under law" (quoted in UNICEF Innocenti Digest (supra).

It is only when the foregoing fundamental right of the child to registration is appreciated that governments in Africa would consider the role of the vital registration system to be a matter of priority.

The Government of Ghana is to be commended for the visible expression of political will. The major turning points mentioned above definitely constitute the "road map" for the full realization of birth and deaths registration in Ghana. UNICEF, PLAN and other allies pledge to partner with the government to make this a success story worthy of support.