Media advisory on Africa Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Day Harnessing coordination, country leadership and ownership to strengthen integrated civil registration and vital statistics systems: a vehicle for Counting everyone

Abstract

The fifth Africa Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Day will be commemorated during the twelfth year since the establishment of the Africa Programme on Accelerated Improvement of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems, a continental framework designed to provide coordinated and integrated support to African countries in strengthening their civil registration and vital statistics systems.Commendation is due to the visionary leaders who attended the first Conference of African Ministers Responsible for Civil Registration, which was held in Addis Ababa in 2010 and led to the establishment of the Africa Programme. On that occasion, African ministers identified the lack of coordinated leadership at the regional and national levels as one of the bottlenecks that was constraining the development of civil registration and vital statistics systems in Africa. In response, one of the guiding principles set for the Africa Programme was to promote country ownership and leadership of such systems.