Vestine Uwase, resident in Cyanya cell, Kigabiro sector in Rwamagana district, is an expectant mother who regularly comes to Rwamagana Health Centres maternity section for antenatal services. This is her second pregnancy. Due to her busy schedule at work, however, Uwase registered her firstborn at the civil registry of her sector three years after delivery. Uwase now believes it will be an easier process for her second born, and it is a relief shared with other parents, after the local government ministry kicked off series of training for healthcare workers who will be in charge of legally registering newborns. The healthcare workers will also have the mandate to deregister the deceased. The trainings that started Wednesday will last three days for each group and at the country level, 1,306 will be trained and these include head nurses and midwives at district and provincial hospitals, directors of health centres and their data managers, as well as heads of private health facilities. This is the preparation of implementation of a law pending cabinet approval, which will shift the two responsibilities from civil registration officers at sector level, to some officers at health facilities. Uwase said it took her so long because she was busy with her job, and she had nobody to do it for her, and had this policy existed, it would be done right after delivery. Registering a baby from the health facilities would be very helpful to parents, since in first days of a newborn a mother (in case of single parents) is too weak to go to a sector office, and sometimes with no one to do it for her, she explained. Normally, the deadline for civil registration of a baby and deregistration of a deceased person is 30 days after birth or death and doing so beyond that attracts a fine. Last year, during a Family Month campaign, government lifted fines for people who had delayed to register their children, and that is when Uwase seized the opportunity to take her three-year-old to the civil registration officer. The first group at Rwamagana brought together health workers from six districts of Eastern Province. The Governor of Eastern Province, Fred Mufulukye, said this civil registry service is a very important exercise for the nation and its people, saying that it informs planning. Besides being a somewhat hard for parents, especially mothers, it was also a challenge to the countrys planning, he declared. After being discharged from the health facility, some parents could go to the sector for registration, but there are also others who did not; and this affected government planning because to plan effectively, you need to have record of the entire population,” he said. He noted that the most exact figures are found after more than two years through household surveys, but this plan will allow local government to have more updated figures on the population and its growth. Once implemented, newborns will be registered before the mother is discharged, the same thing with those who die from health facilities; they will be recorded before they are taken for burial. Jean Baptiste Kayiranga, lawyer at the ministry of local government, explained that in case a baby is born at home, it will be registered on their first visit to health facilities for immunisation. As for the people deceased and not taken to hospital, they will be deregistered at cell level. However, the officials explained that the notary and civil registry officers at sector level will remain as the only ones allowed to provide birth certificates. The training have started in two sites in Eastern Province; six Eastern Province districts at Rwamagana, and at the Bugesera site are three districts of City of Kigali, one from Eastern Province, and one from Southern Province. Next week will be the rest of Southern Province, before proceeding to other provinces. The 2018 EICV5 report by National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR) showed that 91 percent of Rwandan children are born at health facilities, while 56 percent newborns get recorded in civil registers.
