Civil registration as an “essential service”

Addis Ababa, April 24, 2020 (ECA) – African Registrar-Generals responsible for civil registration met at a virtual conference organized by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) on Friday, April 24, 2020, to assess the impact of COVID -19 in the Civil Registry and Vital Statistics (CRVS) and discuss mitigation strategies.

Noting that civil registration should be considered an essential service during the pandemic, Oliver Chinganya, who heads the African Statistics Center, said that ‘ensuring continuity in our CRVS operations, especially with the use of information technology, is crucial and it would be beneficial even after COVID-19. ‘

With more than 30,000 cases of infection and a deplorable number of deaths reported in Africa so far, governments have implemented various strategies to flatten the disease curve, ranging from simple restrictions to the total blockade of some cities and regions.

Some of the most affected sectors include statistics and data, health, education, food security, including civil registration, among others. This has seriously affected civil registry systems, which are expected to be “Universal, mandatory, continuous, permanent and confidential registration of the occurrence of all vital events,” said Mr. Chinganya.

The meeting served as a platform to share experiences on mitigation measures used by different Member States. In the case of Uganda, for example, Ms Judy Obitere stated: ‘Mobile vital event registration and health facility registration services are currently implemented in 52 districts, to ensure that notifications are registered.’

However, he noted that civil registry services have not yet been declared as essential services in his country and that official registry services for vital events are not provided, especially those that require physical visits to offices.

The group agreed that it was essential for ECA to continue to use its convening capacity to bring countries together, gather information and good practices to support governments in business continuity planning during the pandemic.

It was observed that ECA is exploring the use of mobile phones to collect data on vital events. Participants also agreed that the health and safety of both the population and civil registry personnel are of utmost importance and will have priority in continuing CRVS operations during COVID-19.

The electronic meeting concluded that ECA will produce a report for highlightt problems faced by civil registry offices and mitigation measures implemented by different countries to address the impact of COVID-19 on the operations of Civil Registry Systems.

Recommendations for civil registry authorities to guarantee operational continuity during COVID-19 are also available in the websitefrom the United Nations Legal Identity Agenda Working Group, thanks to the contributions and support of CEPA, ESCAP and the Pacific Community.