To assist with data management and development planning, Mr. Augustine Tawiah, the Western Regional Director of the Births and Deaths Registry, has invited the surviving family members to report to the facility.
He continued by saying that in addition to providing the government with data on the populace for use in making national decisions, recording fatalities gave the surviving family members a chance to file claims and obtain benefits from banks, insurance companies, and other state agencies.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Sekondi, Mr. Tawiah was answering a question about why the people did not seem to be interested in deaths registration, in contrast to births registration.
While there were encouraging improvements being made in the registration of births, with 101 each year, the annual performance of their efforts revealed.
The region had anticipated 7,725 deaths in 2023; but, as of the end of December 2023, 2,857 deaths—involving 1589 men and 1268 females—had been reported.
In the meantime, 47.026 infants were registered overall, exceeding the 46,402 objective for the same time period under consideration.
There were 22,883 boys and 24,143 giris among the babies.
Mr Tawiah stated that the register was in negotiations with the Ghana Health Service to certify deaths for the registry, and that certain officials were stationed at the mortuary to also gather such information, as part of a strategy to expand the coverage in deaths registration.
The Regional Director of the Births and Deaths said, the Act 2020, Act 1027 which is the new laws governing their operations was also helping to shape information collection on the births and deaths, for onwards upload on the new electronic system for real time access and use by other stakeholders.
The registry, formerly operated under Act 301 of 1965 under the Ministry of Local Government charged with handling and development of Registration systems in Ghana.
