SEAR/PR/1582
Dhaka: Today, Health Ministers and policy makers from the 11 Member States of WHO's South-East Asia Region deliberated on how to ensure strong Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) systems at the Sixty-seventh Session of the Regional Committee in Dhaka.
An estimated 7.6 million children under age 5 died globally in 2010, but fewer than 2.7% of those deaths were medically certified, assigned a cause of death by a health worker, or recorded in an official database. Lack of reliable data has been a long-standing constraint for effective health planning and management.
Civil Registration—the public recording of key life events, such as births, deaths, cause of death, and marriages—and Vital Statistics—the data that comes from such records—go hand in hand and are essential for evaluating national progress and taking steps forward. The best way for countries to ensure that this data is consistently and continuously recorded is through a national CRVS system—governed by legal mandate and run by the national government with a network of key stakeholders, including government agencies, the national statistics office, the police department and the health sector.
"We must make every life count by recording every birth and death. When each birth is not counted, then the denominator for nearly all health indicators is incorrect. CRVS systems are the only way to obtain continuous, compulsory, and cost effective data on births, deaths, and cause of death,” said Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director for WHO South-East Asia Region. "A strong and reliable CRVS system is an essential tool for national planning across multiple sectors, especially in the health sector", she added. It is key to achieving time-bound health targets, such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Reliable vital statistics from civil registration systems can provide essential inputs to 42 of the 60 Millennium Development Goal (MDG) indicators and help countries to achieve their 2015 goals.
WHO and the World Bank, with input from several agencies and countries, have developed the Global CRVS Scaling Up Investment Plan 2015-2024, with a goal of universal civil registration and access to legal proof of registration for all individuals.
To achieve this goal, the WHO South-East Asia Region has developed the “Regional Strategy to Strengthen the Role of the Health Sector in Improving CRVS Systems”, which is expected to be endorsed by the Regional Committee. Given the multisectoral nature of CRVS systems, the Regional Strategy is a multi-dimensional approach, with focus on such key strategic areas as strengthening the organizational framework of CRVS systems, reinforcing intersectoral collaboration, and employing the help of community health workers to boost completeness of already existing registries. Aligned with other regional initiatives such as the UNESCAP Regional Action Framework, it offers a systematic basis for how the health sector in each country can contribute to achieving universal civil registration of births and deaths and generating accurate, complete and timely vital statistics.
While in general, civil registration of births and deaths is conducted to some degree in all countries of the Region, greater efforts are needed to ensure completeness of these registers, with particular emphasis on including accurate causes of death. The WHO South- East Asia Region with its 11 Member States has considerable diversity in terms of population size, geographical distribution, and socio-economic status. The Regional Strategy articulates common principles in the development of a CRVS system, but countries will need to develop country-specific National Investment Plans based on their nations’ individual needs.
“The improvement of CVRS systems is imperative for sustainable and inclusive development, particularly in the global post-2015 development agenda. It will be central to monitoring the achievement of universal health coverage,” said Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh.
What:
a) Thirty-second Meeting of Ministers of Health of WHO’s South-East Asia Region
b) Sixty-seventh Session of the Regional Committee for South-East Asia
When: 9 – 12 September 2014
Where: Hotel Sonargaon, Dhaka, Bangladesh
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WHO’s South-East Asia Region comprises the following 11 Member States: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Timor-Leste.
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Sixty-seventh Session of the Regional Committee
9-12 September 2014, Dhaka, Bangladesh
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