The ministry of health has announced an electronic birth, death and marriage registrations in hospitals and clinics after receiving dozens of computers and other information technology equipment for the COVID-19 vaccination.
It will be the country’s first start of electronics civil registration since getting independence from the British in 1965. Civil registration is the act of recording and documenting vital events in a person’s life (including birth, death, marriage, and divorce).
“These devices will facilitate electronic registration of COVID-19 vaccine recipients,” Dr. Ahmadou Lamin Samateh, Minister of Health said, adding “The COVID-19 vaccination program provides the opportunity to kicks tart the eCRVS.”
Dr. Samuel Mills, Global Lead of the World Bank Group CRVS Program and the state-of-the-art, comprehensive CRVS eLearning course also said: “a unique national identification number (NIN), assigned at birth, will allow the eCRVS system to be linked with other systems (such as national identity card, district health information system, civil service, social registry, pensions, passport, driver’s license, finance, education, voter rolls, and immigration) to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of public service delivery.”
“Accordingly, The Gambia Essential Health Services Strengthening Project (P173287, financed by the World Bank) is supporting the Ministry of Health to establish a functional electronic civil registration and vital statistics (eCRVS) system. The Project financed the procurement of the following user devices for distribution to all registration centres across the country: 140 desktops, 60 laptops, 60 tablets, 120 printers, 120 scanners, 140 webcams, 140 UPS 1000VA, 140 power line 4 plugs 10m, 8 lamination machines, 60 solar bags, 200 Office 365 packages, 8 battery backup, and 1 all-in-one printer. The Project is also supporting the Ministry of Health to go digital with the logistics management information system, electronic human resource management information system, electronic medical records, and laboratory management information system. The eCRVS, along with these information systems, will provide reliable data for informed decision making on health policies, programs, and services at all levels of the health care delivery system,” the ministry of health said.
The Gambia 1990 Act on Births, Deaths, Marriages and Divorces mandates the Ministry of Health to compulsorily register every birth, death and cause of death and the Ministry of Justice to register marriage and divorce. The Gambia, with technical assistance from the World Bank, has undertaken a review of the 1990 Act on Births, Deaths, Marriages and Divorces and has drafted a CRVS Bill.
Birth registration in the Gambia is paper-based, which makes it prone to duplicate birth certificates for the same individual.