The Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Hajia Alima Mahama says the new Births and Deaths Registration Act which has been passed by Parliament will help improve collation of vital information for national development.

At a Meet the Press engagement Wednesday [August 26, 2020], Hajia Alima Mahama said in 2019, the Registry registered 707,064 infant births (359,532 males and 347,532 females) out of a targeted 879,483 representing 80.40%.

On deaths, the minister said the Registry registered 51,159 deaths (27,480 males and 23,679 females) out of 309,955 as its target representing 17%.

“The new Births and Deaths Registration Act, 2020, seeks to integrate the registration system into the local administration setup. MMDAs will be responsible for the provision of registration facilities at the district level. This will ensure the decentralization of the registration machinery and make registration of vital events accessible to the populace with pronounced functionality at the community level (urban, zonal and town councils”.

The minster said under this protocol, there will be a digital interface between the Births and Deaths Registry and institutions like the National Identification Authority (NIA), the National Health Insurance Agency (NHIA), The Ghana Health Service (GHS) and the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS).

Hajia Alima Mahama added that the new Birth and Death Registration Act will provide for the generation of Community Population registers, which will breed demographic data for the purposes of development planning at the district level. She said this will address the issue of the registration of children born under surrogacy arrangement and address the requirement for the registration of all morgues, funeral homes, burial grounds and crematoriums by the District Assembly.

“The Act introduces enforcement of registration system by mandating Registration Officers to inspect registration records at the household level within the electoral areas of the district. It also introduces the concept of notification and identifies primary notifiers of vital events to include persons in charge of health facilities where births/deaths occur; Traditional Birth Attendants and managers of educational institutions (pre-school and basic schools)”, she said.