The Senior Presidential Advisor, Hon. Yaw Osafo-Maafo, has commended the Births and Deaths Registry (BDR) for enhancing their service delivery by decentralising their operations to the regional and district levels across the country and also incorporating modernised records keeping that would ensure easy accessibility and retrieval of accurate births and deaths records.
The commendation came when Hon. Osafo-Maafo handed over Combined Maternal and Child Health Record Books (CMHRB) to the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and launched a sensitisation campaign for public education on the CMHRB. The book is significant to the socio-economic development the country.
The initiative is by the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development (MLGDRD) through the Births and Deaths Registry (BDR), in collaboration with the Ghana Health Service (GHS), with support from the Public Sector Reform for Results Project (PSRRP), under the auspices of the office of the Senior Presidential Advisor.
The Ag. Registrar of the BDR, Madam Henrietta Lamptey, explained that her outfit would ensure every child is legally registered immediately after birth, regardless of the location, and the CMHRB will enable the registration process for birth.
Hon. Vincent Ekow Assafuah Esq, a Deputy Minister for Local Government, Decentralisation, and Rural Development, acknowledged the support of the PSRRP to the BDR to improve efficiency and service delivery.
This is significant in achieving Sustainable Development Goal 16 and providing legal identity, including free birth registration by 2030.
The Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 2020 (Act 1027) provides for notification for births and deaths. This provision envisages that every birth and death within the country should be recorded accurately.
Source: Sandra Owusu Asamoah
Public Relations, Unit, MLGDRD