Over 700,000 Births, 51,000 Deaths Registered In 2019 – Minister

Last year 2019 saw a total of 707,064 infant births registered, although the target was 879,483.

The number was made up of 359,532 males and 347,532 females.

Despite a projection of 309,955 deaths, the Birth and Death registry registered only 51,159 deaths; 27,480 males and 23,679 females for the entire year.

This was revealed by the Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, Hajia Alima Mahama.

Addressing the press in Accra, the Minister said the new Births and Deaths Registration Act, which has been passed by Parliament, will help improve the collation of vital information for national development.

“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 Minister 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 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 arrangements and address the requirements 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.

---citinewsroom