The current status of civil registration and vital staistics systems in Ghana

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Pistr : Limited AW/CRVS/94/9 28 November 1994

UNITED NATIONS

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL

Original: ENGLISH

AFRICAN WORKSHOP ON STRATEGIES FOR ACCELERATING THE IMPROVEMENT OF CIVIL REGISTRATION AND VITAL STATISTICS SYSTEMS

ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA, 5 TO 9 DECEMBER 1994

r STATISTICAL DIVISION V-

UNITED NATIONS

ECONOMIC COMMISSION

FOR AFRICA

THE CURRENT STATUS OF CIVIL REGISTRATION AND VITAL STATISTICS SYSTEMS

IN GHANA

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE

Country Background - • • - ,.... 1

Historical Background of civill

registration and vital Statistics 3

Problems confronting the vital registration

and statistics system 7

Recommendations -. • 7

Conculsion 8

Appendix * - 9

BACKGROUND

1 -1 Geography:

Ghana is located on the West Coast of Africa almost north of the Equator. It is bordered in the west by the Republic of Togo, north by Burkina Faso, west by Cote d'lvoire and to the south by the Atlantic Ocean. It's size is about 238,537 square kilometres and has a density of 52 persons per sq. miles as observed in the 1984 Census. Ghana has a tropical climate with moderate temperatures. Average annual temperatures are between 25° - 30°C, while peak periods are observed between February and April. The rainy season is normally between March to July and also around September to October. Vegetation zones identified are classified into four main groups namely: - {a) high forest, (b) strand and mangrove, (c) coastal scrub and grassland and (d) savanna woodland.

1*2 The People:

The estimated mid-year population as at July 1994 is 16,6 million, whilst the proportion urban and rural is 32 percent and 68 percent respectively. The sex ratio is 97 males to 100 females.

The annual growth rate is about 3 percent whilst infant mortality is 77 per thousand (DHS 1988) . Even though English is the official language which is used as the medium of instruction and also to some extent expression, the people are made up of different ethnic and linguistic groups. The major ethnic groups identified based on linguistics are the Akans (including Fantes) who are concentrated in the southern sector of the country. They are located in Ashanti, Eastern, Brong Ahafo, Central and to some extent in the Western regions. Other ethnic and linguistic groups identified are the Ewes, Ga Adangbes, Guans and Mosi Dagomba's among others r Major religious groups are Christians who constitute about 50 percent of the population followed by Moslems and other traditional religious adherents.

1.3 Tfre ffconomv:

In the mid 1970s and the early 1980s, the country experienced a deteriorating economic situation. The effect of this decline in the performance of the economy affected real incomes which fell by 30 percent while import volumes declined to about 9.6 percent in early 1983. The economic recovery programme launched in 1983 to date has been found to have put the economy back on course. The economy is a mixed one consisting of industrial activity on one side, and a large traditional agricultural sector on the other, The agricultural sector constitute largely small farmers who are about 61 percent of the economically active adult population.

Female participation in agriculture is also acknowledged with about 50 percent of the female population engaged in agricultural

1

activities. Quite a number the women are engaged in trading especially retail trade. The important cash crop that earn foreign cash for the country is cocoa, followed by timber and minerals such as Gold, Diamond, Bauxite and Manganese among others. The renewed investment in mining ventures especially Gold has enabled Ghana to earn a lot more foreign exchange. Recently, there has been a growing interest in the development of non-traditional crops such as pineapples, plantains etc., as well as enhancing tourism to

increase foreign earnings.

1.4 EcUjtcation ■

Educational programmes pursued immediately after independence have scored marked success in the area of literacy. Female education especially has seen much progress with the proportion who have had some formal education to have increased remarkably. For instance the proportion of women 15-2 4 who have never been to school dropped from 79 percent in 1960 to 38 in 1984. Adult illiteracy rate among women in 1990 was 49 percent whilst it is 39.7 percent among men. The launching of adult literacy programme has found more women than men to be currently attending the adult classes. In the parliamentary elections of 1992, 15 women out of the 200 parliamentarians are women.

1.5 Health:

The health system in Ghana has been seen to have improved over the years especially in the area of disease control and prevention.

Special programmes that have been embarked upon include control of diarrhoeal disease, Guinea worm eradication, Cholera and Bilharzia control programmes. Between 1992 and 1993, the Ministry of Health further had it under its programme to improve coverage and quality of primary health care services throughout the country. This has been made possible through enhanced maternal and child health services and public health education programmes.

Summary: Countr

Population (Mid-year) ■-- 16.6 million

Birth rate per 1,000 = 44 Death rate per 1,000 - 13

Annual population growth (percent) - 3.0 Infant deaths per 1,000 live birth - 77 Estimated life expectancy (both sexes) --■ 55 Sex ratio - 97 males to 100 females

Area in square kilometers = 238,537

Official language ^ English

2.1 CiyjJs_R^gi^toati^_nman^^

Historical background:

Records available indicate that the civil Registration was started by the Colonial Government in 1888 when the Cemeteries Ordinance was enacted. The registration was restricted to the few white population living in the urban areas in the then Gold Coast.

The primary aim of the 1888 Ordinance was to regulate thp burial of dead bodies.

After the 1888 Ordinance, a series of Ordinances were enacted in 1891, 1912 and 1926- The 1891 Ordinance made new provisions as well as extension of the scope of the provisions in the 1888 Ordinance and made significant improvement in the system. The

objective of the 1912 Ordinance was to introduce registration if

births whilst the 1926 Ordinance sought to introduce better provisions to streamline the registration system.

At its inception in 1888 the Civil Registration activity was not assigned to any specific government agency until the Department

of Medical Services was established in 1895 when it was given the responsibility of supervising the registration activities/ By 1952

the registration activities were transferred to the Registrar

General's Department,

During 1960 the UN Population Census Adviser Dr. B. Gil submitted a memorandum on the need for an extended and compulsory

Civil Registration System to the Ghana Government. The memorandum

was accepted by the Government for implementation and as a result Act 301 of 1965 was enacted. After the enactment of Act 301 in 1956 a Division was set up in the Ministry of Local Government in 1966 to be responsible for the development of the Civil Registration System. The Act 301 among other things established the office of the Registrar of Births and Deaths and gave him the mandate to enforce compulsory registration if births, foetal deaths and deaths in the country. By 1970 Legislative Instrument 653 - Registration of Births and Deaths Regulations, 1970 was published.

By 3 972 when it was observed that the Registry had not made any significant studies in its activities under the Ministry of Local Government it was transferred to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning by a Gazette Notice No. 14 of 28LtI January, 1972, By 1981 the Registry was again reassigned to the Ministry of Local Government and Co-operatives as part of measures to streamline the Government Machinery for effectiveness and efficiency.

2 „ 2 Thg__Regi stira'hion System in Ghana .fi. Organisational Structure:

The L.I. 653 divides the country into registration regions, districts and council areas. These divisions coincide with the administrative divisions in the country.

At present there are ten regions and hundred and ten districts in the country as shown by the maps. The Central Registry which is the headquarters of the Registry is headed by the Registrar of Births and Deaths who is responsible for general administration, printing and distribution of forms and development of the department. The regions are headed by the Regional Registrars whilst the districts are controlled by the District Registrars, Registration Offices are set up in towns with population of 5f000

and above. Towns with population less than 5,000 are given

reporting centres. The Reg*stration Offices are manned by Registration Assistants Grade Two or One who are supervised by Assistant Registration Officers. The centres are manned by Part- time Registration Assistants who are mostly Health Inspectors or

Teachers.

The Part-time Registration Assistants go out to collect data on births and deaths occurring in their area of operation "on forms A or B as specified in L.I. 653 1970, the partially completed forms are submitted to the appropriate Registration office within the district of operation.

The Registration Assistant upon receiving the partially completed form A or B enters the information into either Birth Register or Death Register. Birth Certificate is issued in respect of form A and burial permit is issued in respect of form B.

Receipt is issued to cover any fee an informant may pay as a result of delay in reporting the event.

At the end of every calendar month the Registration Assistant compiles and submits report on events registered to his District Registrar, The District Registrar checks the forms, collates the reports from all the registration offices in his district and submits it to the Regional Registrar. Each Regional Registrar checks the report of every district within his region and collates and presents a regional report to the Registrar of Births and Deaths at the Central Registry Office.

At the Central Registry the regional reports are checked and analysed; and provisional national reports are compiled monthly, guarterly and yearly in the form of statistical news letter. The forms are rebatched and forwarded to the office of the Government Statistician where various checks and demographic analysis are carried out and final Vital Statistics are released from time to time.

At present the Registry has 3 56 registrations and 288 centres scartered al1 over the country. The distribution of the registries, staff, population and districts by region is shown in table 1. The current coverage performance of the registry stands at 4 5 percent for births and about 20 percent for deaths-

o o

1DISTRICT,POPULATION,STAFFANDREGISTRYDISTRIBUTIONBYREGIONDEPORTMENTOFBIRTHSANDDEATHSMINISTRYOFLOCALGOVERNMENT

CENTRALGREATERVOLTAEASTERNCENTRALWESTERNASHANTIBRONGNORTHERNUPPERUPPERNSTIONALREGISTRYfiCCRA

No.OFDISTRICTS-512IS12

bst.POPULATION(millions)percentage

STAFFpercentage

Bo.OFREGISTRIESpercentage EASTWEST

1-911.5

6117.0

4713.2 1.69.7328.94612-9 2-313.95415-05615.7 1.59-14412-33911.0 1.69.6359.7329.0 2.317.0391O.94813.S 1.6.9.7287-829S.2 1.69.71710-3277.6 1.06-2133-6¹⁴3-9 0.63.6267.2185.0 16.5100.040510O.Q356100-0

Problems:

1. The major problems facing the Registry are mainly finance, personnel, transport, office machines, office furniture, office accommodation, registration materials, storage facility for registration materials at district, regional and national

levels.

2. The registry relies mainly on annual budget allocated to print the registration forms.. More often than not budget allocation is not sufficient to meet the requirements of the registry leading to shortage of these very vital forms xn the

field.

3 Lack of periodic and in-service courses have made it

difficult for the staff to be abreast with new techniques of collecting, compiling and processing data from the Registry and the Statistical Service.

4, Lack of computer facilities also delay the progress of

work.

Recommendations:

Timely publication of data can be achieved if:-

(a) Staff receive some training in new techniques of vital

statistics analysis - for instance softwares can be used to speed up analysis.

(b) Financial and Technical assistance from government and other bodies such as The United Nations, World Health Organisation among others could help to improve the vital registration and statistics in Ghana.

(c) There is the need for greater co-ordination of activities between the Births and Deaths Registry and the

Statistical Service.

(d) New registration form for registering births and deaths should be introduced. These forms proposed should embody more detailed information that could meet national statistical and legal needs. This could as well meet international data requirements and standards.

(e) The U.N.D.P., U.N.F.P.A. and other donor agencies should put in place a programme for constant monitoring of the operations of the Agencies or organisations responsible for vital registration and statistics. The monitoring reports and recommendations should be made available to

the Government.

Conclusion:

This report has discussed the organisational structure and the operation of the vital statistics and registration system in Ghana.

It also looked at the inhibiting factors that hinder the smooth running of vital registration. It was also noted that the present forms in operation contain less information statistically even though they meet the minimum requirement of international

standards.

It is hoped that these problems identified if tackled, could a long way improve coverage and quality of vital statistics in the

country.

References:

1. World Population data sheet 1991 Population Reference Bureau Inc.

Washington DC 20005

2. Ghana Statistical Service (1988) Demographic and Health Survey

3. Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (1993) Population Planning for national progress and prosperity: Ghana Population Policy

4. The vital registration and statistics systems in Libya and its improvement.