Major Challenges and Barriers to Effective Birth Registration in Ghana .
The Current Coverage
Trends in birth registration over the years 2000-2003 showed a steady decrease in birth registration 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 some remedial interventions on the part of the Registry of Births and Deaths, the figure rose slightly to 28% in 2003. Due to more intense measures, the figure has risen to 50% by the end of 2004.
Staffing
The total number of staff, their level of training and remuneration poses as a major constraint on the efficient operation of the registration machinery. Currently the Registry has 342 personnel (this figure includes non-registration staff such as drivers, watchmen, typist etc) operating in 386 registration centers nationwide. This number is supposed to serve the total population of over eighteen million persons in Ghana.
Inadequate Funding
Birth registration has traditionally depended wholly on government funding. Inadequate provision offunds by government therefore has served as a major challenge to the sustainability of the registration system.
Lack of Logistics
The unavailability of a number offacilities ranging from office accommodation, vehicles, stationery and equipment impinges negatively on the performance of the Registry.
Lack of Motivation
The lack of motivation on the part of the populace to registertheir births cannot be discounted. The problem is pervasive in the rural areas of Ghana where poverty, ignorance and the absence of adequate registration facilities have contributed immensely to this state of affairs.

Limited Access and Lack of Knowledge of the Importance of Birth Registration
Physical inaccessibility to registration centers and lack of knowledge of the importance of birth registration poses a major challenge to accelerated coverage. This situation is quite pervasive in rural areas where communities are scattered and isolated making access to such areas extremely difficult. Inconsistent coverage levels make it very difficult forthe Registry to make any meaningful demographic analysis for the nation. The reality of the situation presented here is that every year, over 60% of newly born children are not registered. These children are therefore denied the right to a legal identity, the right to a nationality, and all the civic and social rights that belonging to a State is required to confer on the individual. This phenomenon needs to be checked.

Multiple Registration
Multiple registration is a very serious problem in birth registration as it affects the quality of data generated by the Registry. A lot of people out of ignorance, or perhaps willfully, have their births registered more than once and this compromises the authenticity of the records. While double registration is known to occur, due to persons re-registering their births when original certificates are misplaced, there is no effective mechanism to tap it. Full computerization of operations would have made it easier to detect such lapses so that measures would be instituted to eliminate or in the alternative, minimize them.