A total of 19,815 birth registrations were recorded in the Upper East Region between January and September this year, officials have revealed.
The figure represents 72 per cent of the 36,670-target given to the region.
Speaking at the commissioning of a refurbished regional office of the Births and Deaths Registry in Bolgatanga by the World Vision International and UNICEF, officials announced they are targeting 100 per cent of birth registration.
The Upper East Regional Births and Deaths Registry has now been fitted with automated equipment and office furniture to attain full registration coverage of infants.
With the new registry, all birth registration forms will be transmitted directly to Accra for printing, something that was done manually previously.
Upper East Regional Director of Births and Deaths Registry, Issifu Damba, said with the refurbished registry with modern facilities, they will achieve 100 per cent birth registration.
“This new regional births and deaths registry will ensure 100 per cent birth registration coverage in the region” he assured.
Birth registration is an essential tool for providing a child with a legal identity and a gateway to accessing health, economic, political and legal services.
It also confirms a child’s nationality, place of birth, parents and age among others.
A research conducted by World Vision International Public Policy on Birth Registration in 2014 revealed that more than 50 million births go unregistered each year in the world.
National Director of WVG, Dickens Thunde, said “the new structure will not only aid in registering every birth in the region, but also issue out instant birth certificates to children”
UNICEF Child Protection Specialist, Emelia Allan, said his outfit would continue to work with the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development to strengthen capacities of officials of the Births and Deaths Registry to attain full registration of infants in Ghana.
World vision International in 2017, invested GHc773, 898 in the Birth and Deaths Registry across the country, in the provision of computers, furniture, motor bikes, automated equipment and the registration of 25,000 children births for free.
By Rabiu Tanko|3news.com|Ghana