Petronella Sibeene
19 September 2008
Windhoek — Namibia yesterday became the third country on the continent after Angola and Uganda to launch a pilot project for birth registration in public health facilities.
The Ministry of Health and Social Services, the Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) yesterday launched the pilot project at Katutura State Hospital in the capital.
Rosalia Nghidinwa, Minister of Home Affairs and Immigration said her office is overwhelmed by applications for late registration of birth. This has made the work of officials difficult as the workload becomes enormous.
Demographic Health Survey for 2006 found that in Namibia, 60.4 percent of newly born babies are registered.
This means, four in every 10 children under the age of five do not have birth certificates.
The minister emphasised that birth registration is a fundamental human right that ensures a child has a name and nationality. That further gives birth to other rights, namely education, health care and participation and protection from discrimination, abuse and exploitation.
Nghidinwa was supported by the UNICEF Country Representative, Ian MacLeod, who said the simple process of registration and obtaining documentation safeguards a child's access to social services.
The minister gave an example of the situation of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC). Out of the 250000 OVC in the country, only 95000 benefit from the social grants.
Lack of documents such as birth certificates has been cited as one of the main factors that contribute to their exclusion from the list of beneficiaries.
"In the absence of a functioning birth registration system, it is difficult to enforce age-specific legal frameworks in areas such as juvenile justice, child trafficking, child labour, early marriage and sexual exploitation," he added.
Generally, registration of children allows them to obtain other national documents and have access to services that might need one to present an identity document such as voting and opening a bank account.
Once newly born children are registered to acquire birth certificates, a unique number that will be linked to other national documents in future will also be issued.
Thus, the minister appealed to fathers to name their children at birth to enable the ministry issue birth certificates when children are taken for post-natal checks and immunisation.
"We have reports of some irresponsible and reluctant fathers who refuse to provide names to their babies ... They only claim to be fathers when those children are graduating from tertiary institutions," she said.
With 95 percent of births in the country taking place at state hospitals, MacLeod said UNICEF is prepared to render appropriate technical support in the scaling up of the project.
Minister of Health and Social Services, Dr Richard Kamwi, said rolling out the registration of newly born babies will take place at all 34 district hospitals, health centres and clinics in due course.
He appealed to nursing staff to educate their clients (expecting mothers and their partners) on the importance of registering children, as well as immunisation.
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