Delivering a speech on behalf of the minister of Health and Social Welfare, Yaya Sireh Jallow, the permanent secretary at the said Ministry, said records have it that births and deaths registration started in The Gambia during the colonial administration around 1880s, covering mainly populations within the Islands of then Bathurst and Maccarthy.

He noted that in 1950s key public health services including registration of births and deaths were decentralised to the protectorate, with these services provided under the guidance of sanitary inspectors. After Independence in 1965, he added, these services were further decentralised to local government authorities with powers vested in divisional commissioners for the issuing of birth certificates in their respective administrative divisions.

The PS mentioned that the sole aim of the Births and Deaths Registration Act, 1990 was the attainment of universal coverage irrespective of age. Since the enactment of the said Act, Jallow informed, a lot of successes have been achieved. He said in 2000, the Gambia Bureau of Statistics conducted a Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MIC 11) to determine, among other indicators the registration rates for births in the country. The survey, he said revealed a 32% registration rate, which has since served as a baseline. 

He said four years later in 2004, with support from UNICEF and partners, government adopted an integrated strategy / approach to birth registration incorporating it into Reproductive and Child Health Services for children under five years of age. The purpose, he went on,is to scale up the registration rates from 32% in 2000 to 90% by 2010 for the under-five population, create awareness and increase access (geographical & financial) to registration and certification.

The UNICEF country representative, Aichatou Diawara highlighted the importance of birth registration, saying that under article 7 of the United Nations Convention on the rights of the child, the child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to name, the right to acquire a nationality and as far as possible, the right to know and be cared by his or her parents. 

She explained that birth registration is the official recording of the birth of a child; that it is a permanent and official record of a child’s existence and is fundamental to the realization of his or her rights and needs. “A child who is not registered at birth is in danger of being shut out of society; he or she is denied the right to an official identity, a recognised name and nationality,” Diawara indicated.

The regional governor, Alhaji Ganyie Touray underscored the importance of birth registration, saying that a child who has no birth certificate does not have the membership card of a society that should open the door to the enjoyment of a whole range of other rights; including education and health care, participation and protection. He said some parents do not take birth registration as an important thing; thus he called for community sensitisation.