1. Status of Civil Registration system
VANUATU, Ettienne RAVO & Jeffrey TRIEF

2. Status of Civil Registration System
Background information:
Civil Registry and Vital Statistics (CRVS) Department is set up under the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
CRVS operations is governed by the Civil Status (Registration) Act [Cap61]
It is currently (2018) in the process of being reviewed and amended by the State Law Office (SLO), along with other related Acts such as Citizenship Act, Education Act, Public Health Act and the Statistics Act.

3. Status of Civil Registration System
Record Management System:
The civil registration records are electronically organised and recorded through the ‘Register-Viz’ central database since 2004.
It is a ‘System in Progress’ where adjustments and twigs are made to the database (system) as issues are raised during the data recording process.
Very old hard records are scanned into the ‘Register-Viz’. All original hard records are moved and stored remotely at the National Archive.

4. Status of Civil Registration System: completeness
The number of yearly births estimated by the most recent census (2009) is 7,335
The number of yearly deaths estimated by the most recent census (2009) is 1,260.
Year
No of Births Registered within one year of occurrence
No of late birth registration cases
Number of deaths registered
Number of late death registration cases
Estimated completes for births
Estimated completes for deaths
2017
 4,364
 153
 54.50
2016
4,291
 205
 58.50
2015
 4,149
 266
 56.56
2014
 4,348
 267
 59.28
2013
1,876
 219
 25.58
Estimated completeness for Births=Number of births registered within one year of occurrence/ Number of births estimated by most recent census*100
Estimated completeness for Deaths =Number of deaths registered within one year of occurrence/ Number of births estimated by most recent census*100

5. CRVS Recent Developments
Adopting the steps outlined under the Pacific Vital Statistics Action Plan, 2011 – 2014, Vanuatu is now at its final step of implementing its CRVS National improvement Plan.
National CRVS Policy
National CRVS Strategic Plan

6. Recent Developments cont.…
Vanuatu’s ‘CRVS National Strategic Plan 2017 – 2030’, capitalizes on other Government initiatives such as:
National Decentralization Policy – Bringing the government and its services closer to the people. E.g. 5 year Provincial Strategic Plan to include CRVS – TAFEA Province.
National ICT Policy – Universal Access to ICT in all schools and under served areas which in turn provides communication backbone to enable remote registration of vital events.
Vanuatu National Bio-Metric Electoral System and ID Card Policy – All residents are required to get registered to obtain a National ID Card.

7. Upcoming projects and priorities
A vital component of Vanuatu’s CRVS Strategic Plan that is now of central focus is:
Securing key stakeholder’s support and implementation of the National CRVS Strategic Plan
Areas that Vanuatu require BAG’s support include:
Financial Support in implementation of CRVS National Strategic Plan
Training on improving Death Registration and recording of
Cause of Death