Afghanistan | Get Every One in the Picture

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Afghanistan

The modern CRVS system in Afghanistan was established in 1977 under the Ministry of Interior, and a special section of the Central Statistics Office was created in 1978 for analyzing and evaluating CRVS data. In 2019, the civil registration authority became part of the National Statistics and Information Authority (NSIA) which maintains four main functions and responsibilities: statistics; geographic information systems; system development; and, national identity registration.

There are registration offices in 364 districts with supervision and training in birth and death registration. The NSIA is also responsible for the calculation of indicators, compilation of collected information, statistical analysis, report writing and the dissemination of vital statistics. Another key ministry for CRVS in Afghanistan is the Ministry of Public Health which is responsible for the collection of vital statistics data through health facilities and the health information management systems.

Legislation mandates that all civil events such as births, deaths, marriage, and divorce are to be reported, with all births to be registered within three months and deaths within one. There are currently no penalties for non-reporting and the registration of vital events is not widely practiced by the population. Birth registration occurs predominantly at health centers and there are no fees for registration. It is not necessary to have a birth certificate to gain entry to school. However, it is mandatory to have a national identification card.

CRVS Focal Point:

Mr. Hasibullah Mowahed, Deputy Director General on Professional Affairs

RSG Member:

Mr. Hasibullah Mowahed, Deputy Director General on Professional Affairs

Afghanistan

Goal 1. Universal civil registration of births, deaths and other vital events

Goal 1 Targets:

1.A

By 2024, at least 80 per cent of births in the territory and jurisdiction in the given year are registered.

1.B

By 2024, at least … per cent of children under 5 years old in the territory and jurisdiction have had their birth registered.

1.C

By 2024, at least … per cent of all individuals in the territory and jurisdiction have had their birth registered.

1.D

By 2024, at least … per cent of all deaths that take place in the territory and jurisdiction in the given year are registered.

1.E

By 2024, at least … per cent of all deaths recorded by the health sector in the territory and jurisdiction in the given year have a medically certified cause of death recorded using the international form of the death certificate.

Goal 2. All individuals are provided with legal documentation of civil registration of births, deaths and other vital events, as necessary, to claim identity, civil status and ensuing rights

Goal 2 Targets:

2.A

By 2024, at least 85 per cent of all births registered in the territory and jurisdiction are accompanied with the issuance of an official birth certificate that includes, as a minimum, the individual’s name, sex, date and place of birth, and name of parent(s) where known.

2.B

By 2024, at least … per cent of all deaths registered in the territory and jurisdiction in the given year are accompanied with the issuance of an official death certificate which includes, as a minimum, the deceased’s name, date of death, sex, and age.

Goal 3. Accurate, complete and timely vital statistics (including on causes of death) are produced based on registration records and are disseminated

Goal 3 Targets:

3.A

By … (year), annual nationally representative statistics on births – disaggregated by age of mother, sex of child, geographic area and administrative subdivision – are produced from registration records or other valid administrative data sources.

3.B

By … (year), annual nationally representative statistics on deaths – disaggregated by age, sex, cause of death defined by ICD (latest version as appropriate), geographic area and administrative subdivision – are produced from registration records or other valid administrative data sources.

3.C

By 2024, at least … per cent of deaths occurring in health facilities or with the attention of a medical practitioner have an underlying cause of death code derived from the medical certificate according to the standards defined by ICD (latest version as appropriate).

3.D

By 2024, the proportion of deaths coded to ill-defined codes will have been reduced to … per cent.

3.E

By 2024, at least … per cent of deaths taking place outside of a health facility and without the attention of a medical practitioner have their underlying cause of death code determined through verbal autopsy in line with international standards.

3.F

By … (year), key summary tabulations of vital statistics on births and deaths using registration records as the primary source, are made available in the public domain in electronic format annually, and within one calendar year.

3.G

By … (year), key summary tabulations of vital statistics on causes of death using registration records as the primary source, are made available in the public domain in electronic format annually, and within two calendar years.

3.H

By … (year), an accurate, complete and timely vital statistics report for the previous two years, using registration records as the primary source, is made available in the public domain.

Goal 1. Universal civil registration of births, deaths and other vital events

Goal 1 is an expression of the internationally accepted principle of the universal coverage of civil registration. The CRVS system should register all vital events occurring in the territory and jurisdiction of the country or area, including among hard-to-reach and marginalized populations.

National Targets:

1.A

By 2024, at least 80 per cent of births in the territory and jurisdiction in the given year are registered.

Note: This country has not submitted estimates for the number of births for all years. The level of completeness of birth registration was therefore assessed with international estimates for every year, to allow comparison. These measurements are therefore to be interpreted with caution.

BASELINE

2014

32%

MIDTERM

2018

46%

TARGET

2024

80%

1.B

By 2024, at least … per cent of children under 5 years old in the territory and jurisdiction have had their birth registered.

MIDTERM

2015

42.3%

1.C

By 2024, at least … per cent of all individuals in the territory and jurisdiction have had their birth registered.

1.D

By 2024, at least … per cent of all deaths that take place in the territory and jurisdiction in the given year are registered.

Note: This country has not submitted estimates for the number of deaths for all years. The level of completeness of death registration was therefore assessed with international estimates for every year, to allow comparison. These measurements are therefore to be interpreted with caution.

baseline

2014

6%

MIDTERM

2018

10%

1.E

MIDTERM

2018

2.5%

Goal 2. All individuals are provided with legal documentation of civil registration of births, deaths and other vital events, as necessary, to claim identity, civil status and ensuing rights

Goal 2 reflects that CRVS systems provide legal documentation of civil registration to individuals and families for legal and administrative purposes. Legal documentation is strongly linked with a broad range of rights and activities, in particular legal identity. This goal addresses the distinction between the civil registration of a vital event and the possession of formal proof that it took place, in the form of legal documentation.

National Targets:

2.A

TARGET

2024

85%

2.B

Goal 3. Accurate, complete and timely vital statistics (including on causes of death) are produced based on registration records and are disseminated

Goal 3 highlights the critical importance of civil registration being linked to the production and quality assurance of vital statistics on the occurrence and characteristics of vital events.

National Targets:

3.A

3.B

3.C

Note: This target was not monitored as part of the Midterm Questionnaire on the Implementation of the Regional Action Framework for CRVS in Asia and the Pacific.

3.D

By 2024, the proportion of deaths coded to ill-defined codes will have been reduced to … per cent.

baseline

2018

0.4%

3.E

Note: In light of recent countries’ experiences, Verbal autopsy is not encouraged to be applied to a large population scale, but rather on a representative sample. To reflect this, Target 3E is not anymore monitored by the coverage percentage of Verbal autopsy, but by the use or not of Verbal autopsy and its different applications.

MIDTERM

No

3.F

3.G

3.H

By … (year), an accurate, complete and timely vital statistics report for the previous two years, using registration records as the primary source, is made available in the public domain.

Afghanistan