Akbar in meet to strengthen registration, statistics

The Minister for Health and Medical Services Rosy Akbar is in Bangkok for a United Nations led meeting that aims to strengthen civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) systems in Asia and the Pacific. The meeting this week was also aimed at improving the health, education, and human rights protections for people in region.

Ms Akbar also chaired the Regional Steering Group for CRVS in Asia-Pacific at the meeting.

She said: “If we want to ensure no one is left behind, we need to make everyone visible through birth registration. Together we can give every child a birthday,” Approximately 135 million children under the age of 5 in Asia-Pacific have not had their birth registered. Without proper legal identity and recognition from the state, these children can face numerous challenges in accessing health care and education, and are more vulnerable, including to statelessness and human trafficking.

Many countries in the region rely on less timely and often costly sources of data, including household surveys and censuses even for critical vital statistics including infant mortality and cause of death as well as basic population counts.

Although there is strong commitment from countries to close these gaps, there is still significant work to be done in order to achieve well-functioning, universal and accessible national CRVS systems.