adminTanaka Mahanya
TRADITIONAL leaders are set to be capacitated to ensure effective documentation of births and deaths in communities.
Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister, Monica Mutsvangwa, said statistics were the bedrock of planning, policy, decision-making and good governance.
“It is pertinent therefore to have a reliable and up to date Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) system.
“The Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage, Kazembe Kazembe, briefed Cabinet on the proposed implementation of active notification for community births and deaths.
“As part of improving the CRVS system, the Civil Registry Department will be introducing the active notification of births and deaths occurring in communities,” said Minister Mutsvangwa.
She said this would be implemented through the capacitation of traditional leaders who will capture community births and deaths on specially designed notification forms.
“These notification forms will serve the same purpose as birth confirmation records issued at health facilities. The data submitted by traditional leaders will be captured at district level,” she said.
She said the programme would be piloted in 14 districts before it’s rolled out to all districts in the country.
“The importance of the Active Notification System and its transformative benefits include empowerment of traditional leaders to effectively execute their mandate in terms of the Births and Deaths Registration Act (Chapter 5:02).
“It will also include improvement in the registration of births and deaths in rural areas, and there will be no need for witnesses in cases of community births and deaths.
“Members of the public will no longer incur transport costs, and births and deaths will be registered timely,” she said.
Online Reporter