EAST AND
SOUTH ASIAN WORKSHOP ON
STRATEGIES FOR ACCELERATING
THE IMPROVEMENT OF
CIVIL REGISTRATION AND
VITAL STATISTICS SYSTEMS
Beijing, China
29
November to 3 December 1993
II. CONCLUSIONS OF THE WORKSHOP
The
objective of the workshop was to improve and speed up the registration of
vital events, primarily births and deaths, in order to enhance quality and
security and minimize double registrations, delayed registrations, omissions,
counterfeiting or alteration without legal consent, all of which have serious
effects on the reliability of the registration records. The latter considerations
are important at the grass roots in human rights issues and provide the basis
for citizenship and the buildup of a nation. In some instances, security reasons can be
argued in favor of improving the civil registration system. Improvement of
the civil registration source alone, will of course not suffice but will help
to streamline the compilation and processing of vital statistics from registration
data for accuracy and timeliness. Vital statistics are of extreme importance,
as they shed light on the health situation, on population growth even at the
smallest administrative sub-divisions, on progress towards goals in health,
family planning, etc.
Participants
in the Workshop, suggested the following strategies to accelerate the improvement
of civil registration and vital statistics systems in countries of East and
South Asia:
1. The
Workshop, considering the importance and usefulness of the evaluation and
assessment exercise on the current status of the civil registration (the registration
of live births, deaths, foetal deaths, marriages, divorces, etc.) and vital
statistics systems in:
a. Bringing together the two systems (civil
registration and vital statistics) in one integrated study;
b. Identifying the particular issues and
problems of each system;
c. Determining the weaknesses and strong
points of each system;
d. Finding out appropriate solutions and
developing strategies on how to carry out necessary reforms;
recommends to the countries of the region conduct
an in-depth study based on the guidelines issued by the United Nations Statistical
Division (UNSTAT) for this purpose. This study should include a detailed national plan of action and
a time table clearly prioritizing the short, medium and long term activities
to be implemented to strengthen the systems.
2. The Workshop recognizes that sustained support from high level authorities of National Governments for the accelerated improvements of civil registration and vital statistics systems is of critical and vital importance. Further, the support of international organizations should be obtained to implement necessary reforms.
3.
With that end in view, the
Workshop requests the United Nations Statistical Commission, the Committee
on Statistics of Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)
and other concerned regional bodies to urge the Governments to assign high
priority for accelerating the improvement of civil registration and vital
statistics systems in the countries of the region. ESCAP might wish to emphasize that support is needed at the very
highest levels of the Government to promote improvements in these basic civil
registration and vital statistics systems, as they are essential for administration
and statistics, as well as for individuals, and which also
play an important role in socio-economic development.
4. The
Workshop further requests that international organizations promoting population
and human development on a sustainable basis should also assign high priority
and provide support to improve civil registration and vital statistics systems.
Support should also be enlisted from non-governmental organizations,
particularly those which are interested in issues of human development C such as issues
relating to women, children, the elderly, the disabled, and other social population
groups.
5. The
Workshop recommends that measures be taken to produce printed and audio-visual
publicity materials based on the experiences of a complete civil registration
system, either national or sub-national, which may be used to raise awareness
among the high level authorities of national governments on the importance
of civil registration and vital statistics.
The materials should be attractive and effective, and should illustrate
the benefits and uses, with special focus on contemporary issues such as sustainable
development and human development.
6. The
Workshop recommends that UNSTAT, ESCAP, IIVRS and developed countries take
appropriate measures in producing these materials to assist countries. It also encourages developing countries to
take initiatives of their own. Recalling
that an IIVRS Committee had produced and sent a report to high level government
authorities in Asia in 1985, it is suggested that the report be re-circulated
to the participants of this Workshop for further improvement and use.
7. The
Workshop recommends that the ESCAP Committee on Statistics should declare
1995C1999 as the quinquennium for improving civil registration
and vital statistics.
8. The
Workshop noted that in many countries of the region, the local registrar is
a part-time employee, often not under the direct authority of the central
registration agency. This factor is
thought to contribute to lack of attention to registration and vital statistics
work. It therefore recommends that,
where appropriate, incentives should be offered to those local registrars
who accomplish full coverage of vital events.
9. In
countries where registration is carried out purely by personnel employed by
the registration authorities, it is suggested that the network be supplemented
by health and medical care workers to make the system more accessible to the
population. In such cases, training
and instruction manuals for procedures in registration and vital statistics
reporting need to be made available for all levels involved, and a system
of motivation and reward to the health personnel be instituted to ensure uniformity
and cooperation in carrying out their functions.
10. The
Workshop noted that on numerous occasions, some Governments have recognized
the importance of civil registration and vital statistics, but often the level
of support for these functions has not been commensurate with that acknowledgement.
The Workshop therefore urges the establishment of high level committees
of users and producers in order to ensure that accelerated improvements take
place and that civil registration and vital statistics functions receive adequate
support from the Government. Similar
committees may also be constituted at sub-national levels.
11. Further,
these central high level committees should be headed by the Minister in-charge
of civil registration, and the members should include heads of concerned departments
C such as
finance, health, population, education, statistics, vital statistics, justice,
interior C as well as some other users
outside the Government, including non-governmental organizations, associations
of population, statistics, lawyers, etc. The central registration office should serve as the secretariat
of the high-level committees.
12. While
emphasizing the need for national efforts for any development programme activities
leading to accelerated improvement of civil registration and vital statistics
systems, some Governments may find it difficult to secure the total financial
and other resources that would be necessary. In such cases, requests may be made to international
and bilateral donor agencies to supplement the available national resources.
Advisory services for formulating these requests in the line of recommended
formats should be provided by UNFPA, the UNFPA Country Support Teams, ESCAP
or UNSTAT.
13. The
Workshop observed that the last technical meeting on civil registration and
vital statistics in Asia and the Pacific was conducted in 1985. However, there is a need to review and exchange
information more frequently on progress made in accelerating improvements.
It is recommended that such workshops/seminars should be convened once
every three years.
14. It
is recommended that this Workshop report should be published and distributed
widely. It should also be submitted
to the ESCAP Committee on Statistics for its consideration and endorsement
in its next session in 1994 so that proper support can be given to the implementation
of the Workshop recommendations in the countries of ESCAP region.
15. Noting
the importance of exchange of information and experiences among countries
at various levels of civil registration and vital statistics development,
the Workshop encourages the exchange of personnel among developing and developed
civil registration and vital statistics systems, as well as organizations
of in-country training courses. The
international funding agencies concerned with population and human development
should also facilitate participation of such personnel in international training
on civil registration and vital statistics.
16. Countries
should consider the benefits of introducing modern technology for storage
and retrieval of vital registration records and for the processing of vital
statistics wherever it is not yet in operation.
17. The
Workshop felt that with increasing computerization of civil registration,
there is a need for software for data entry, tabulation and processing as
well as for storage and retrieval of civil registration records. UNSTAT and
ESCAP were urged to prepare and provide to countries the necessary software.
18. The
Workshop felt that it would help the civil registration and vital statistics
systems if handbooks or manuals are made available on various aspects, including
the preservation of registration records and other topics mentioned in the
international programme.
19. The
Workshop considered that basic administrative changes may be needed, in some countries where more than
one agency is responsible for civil registration. Several agencies may have
overlapping functions, for improvement of civil registration and vital statistics
systems, and legislative approval might be required before introducing certain
changes. Until such legal provisions
are made, the needed improvement might be attempted through increased coordination
and inter-agency committees.
20. Countries
should review all methods and stages involved in collecting and processing
civil registration records and vital statistics so as to speed up the production
and response to the needs of important users in Government requiring such
data to carry out and monitor ongoing
health and other social sector programmes.
21. Countries
should strive to educate and sensitize the potential consumers of data on
the full utility of civil registration records and vital statistics.
22. The
Workshop emphasized that vital statistics rates derived from sample surveys
and by other indirect estimation techniques can only be short-term measures
in the absence of a reliable civil registration system. To provide statistics at small area or micro-level can be no substitute
for an efficient civil registration system. The workshop
urged Governments to provide full support to the programme to improve the
civil registration system.
23. The
workshop recommended that countries in which
civil registration is incomplete at the national level, should also consider
making an evaluation and assessment study of the current status of the registration
system at the small area or other micro-levels so that fertility and mortality
indicators can be directly calculated for selected areas of complete registration.
This effort will provide stimulus to other areas of the country with
weak registration patterns to improve their levels of registration coverage
and to demonstrate the utility of the data derived in this fashion.