The National Population Commission(NPC) said it was working with stakeholders in the health sector on the digitization of Nigeria’s birth registration. Vital Registration Director, Matthew Sunday told newsmen on Tuesday.
Recall that on Friday, the United Nations Children’s Fund announced that only 33% of children in Nigeria had a birth certificate.
Speaking on the role of the NPC in ensuring that children in Nigeria get registered at birth, Sunday said-
“We are collaborating with the health sector, especially the Primary Health Care. We are going to have a meeting very soon with all the stakeholders in the health sector. We are going digital.
“We are automating the processes of childbirth registration to ensure that there will be no double registration and for the purpose of probability. We are working with other sister agencies such as the Federal Ministry of Health and the National Bureau of Statistics because sharing data on the analogue platform is very difficult.
“A lot of children are born outside medical facilities, especially in rural areas. One measure that we have adopted is that we have found out that these children are immunised. This is irrespective of where they are born.
“We have been collaborating with the health sector for years but it is not enough. We are now moving into integrating birth registration into the health sector activities. For instance, on the immunisation card of a child, one will see a column if a child is registered and if not, the health personnel will advise the parents to go register the child”, he said.
cc: Punch Ng
