Over 300 seek birth certificates

TWO pilot projects have been set up at Bwacha health centre and Kasanda clinic in Kabwe for birth registration and more than 300 parents who applied for the documents have been given the certificates.

The Department of National Registration, Passport and Citizenship (DNRPC) with its cooperating partner UNICEF, led journalists to Kabwe yesterday as part of the media training workshop on birth and death registration.

DNRPC principal registrar, Peter Moyo expressed happiness that the entire process of registration would take less than one hour to be finalised.

Mr Moyo said Government was determined to decentralise the birth and death registration and that a similar pilot project would be set up in Maramba township in Livingstone.

“It is gratifying to see that the entire process is able to take less than one hour, which is encouraging and meaning more people will be captured,” he said.

He said the Ministry of Home Affairs desired to partner with the Ministry of Health in the exercise so that it could ride on the child health week which was able to capture 99 percent children who would also in turn be registered for birth certificates.

Mr Moyo said what health institutions issued at the time of new births were mere records but which would made it easier to acquire certificates with the department later on.

A mother who was found at Kasanda clinic, Beatrice Kampamba, said she decided to register her two children for birth certificates after she was informed about how the documents would help them easily access other documents such as National Registration Cards (NRCs) and enrolment into school.

Ms Kampamba said a birth certificate also helped to authenticate the relationship between the child and parents.

She encouraged her fellow mothers to ensure that they obtained birth certificates for their children especially that the service had been brought to their door steps.