2nd Conference of African CRVS ministers: strengthened commitment
3-7 September 2012 | Durban - Prof. Were represented the iERG at the 2nd CRVS Conference in South Africa and provided a keynote address. During her presentation, Prof. Were stressed that without civil registration and vital statistic systems (CRVS) countries could not measure progress towards achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) related to reducing child mortality and improving maternal health.
Working on the health of women and children meant ensuring that they had access to health care services and commodities. "This cannot be accomplished if they are not taken into account at the time of sectoral planning and policy making. But, before they are considered for planning and policy making, they have to be "counted" - this means their births, deaths and causes of deaths have to be registered properly," she noted.
When it came to the most vulnerable, women and children, there were no functioning civil registration and vital statistic systems in most of the high-burden countries. There was a low coverage of birth and death registration, poor hospital reporting of causes of death and limited capacity to conduct accurate certification and coding.
CRVS and the improved statistics they generate supported the health sector in identifying emerging health threats and high risk groups, determining needed interventions and required resource allocation.
A high-level interest to CRVS is remarkable. The iERG will keep on engaging with the stakeholders to stimulate data collection initiatives at country level, promote IT-based registration and make the role of civil society in the process more prominent.
