1. Session 6. The Role of Health Institutions
Brisbane Accord Group
Session 6. The Role of Health Institutions
Civil Registration Process: Place, Time, Cost, Late Registration
UNITED NATIONS STATISTICS DIVISION
Workshop on Operation of Civil Registration, Vital Statistics and
Identity Management Systems and the Production of Vital Statistics Reports for the Eastern Mediterranean Countries (Group 2)
Tunis, Tunisia, 26 – 30 March 2018
Recommended reading: Role of health institutions
Principles and Recommendations, para
with

2. Vital Statistics System
Live births
Deaths
Fetal deaths
Marriages
Divorces
Annulments
Judicial
separations
Adoptions
Legitimation
Recognition
Health services
Certification of
cause of death
Authorized
institutions
Courts
Civil
Registration, including population registers
Principles:
Compulsory
Universal
Continuous
Confidentiality
Vital
Statistics
Compilation
Processing
Validation
Quality control
Dissemination
Complementary/
Interim sources
Population census
Surveys
Sample registration
areas
Additional
administrative
sources
Coronary
Police
Registries
Health records
National IDs’
Electoral lists
Passports …
In this revisión of the P&R the role of the health sector was very much highlighted
This presentation is rather short, pointing only at the most important and salient aspects. The presentations from coutries after me will go into details

3. Role of health institutions
Critical role
Source of information on the occurrence of birth, foetal deaths and deaths
Certification of causes of deaths
Health statistics
Informant
Civil Registration Law often designates the head of the health institutions as responsible for acting as informant of births, foetal deaths and deaths occurring in their institutions
In practice, this results in having a civil registration office located in health institutions, making the information of occurrence fast-flowing
The parents (births) or relatives (deaths) are pointed to the registrar’s office within the health institutions where the registration of the event as well as certificates take place
Even when the office is elsewhere and the role of informant falls to an individual (parents, relatives) the health institution provides the notification of the occurrence of the event which is then used by the registrar

4. Role of health institutions
Certification of cause of death
Death certificate critical for surviving relatives
Registrar should insure that the cause of death form is part of the record (although not public information) and submitted for statistical processing
The study of cause of death is critical for public health
WHO standards for the cause of death
Not civil registration
Health institutions do not have the authority to issue legal certificates
Only civil registrar has the authority for legitimate registration
Health institutions are not equipped to discharge this function
Adverse impact on their primary function (health services)
In some countries, health institutions are tasked to submit statistical reports on vital events to the Health Ministry or to the NSO resulting in the production of vital statistics
In some countries, health institutions are tasked to submit statistical reports on vital events to the Health Ministry or to the NSO resulting in the production of vital statistics (by-passing the CR)