Mozambican government wants to reach 1.4 million new birth certificates in four years

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Mozambican government wants to reach 1.4 million new birth certificates in four years

12:36 CAT | 10 May 2018

File photo: Lusa

The Ministry of Justice, Constitutional and Religious Affairs of Mozambique aims to ensure the birth registration of 1.4 million people in the next four years, raising the birth registration rate in the country to about 90 percent.

The head of the Civil Registry Department at the ministry, Sergio Sueia, said yesterday in Maputo that only 47 percent of the Mozambican population was covered by birth registration.

“Birth registration is free and mandatory, and should be done within the first 120 days of life,” Sueia said, adding that there was still a lack of knowledge about the importance of birth registration in the Mozambican population.

“Many parents still only register their children when it comes to enrolment in primary school,” he said.

The head of the Civil Registry Department pointed to the effective provision of basic services as one of the great advantages of birth registration.

The fact that birth registration is expensive when done after the first 120 days of life and the refusal to register African names in Mozambican registers, which only accept Portuguese names, also constitute an obstacle to registering births, Sueia conceded.

Source: Lusa