UNICEF has been working with the Departments of Local Government and Health, the National Data Base Registration Authority (NADRA) and the mobile telecom network operator Telenor to register every child in the province of Sindh. In the past, the birth registration process was notoriously cumbersome and time-consuming, so many parents opted to leave their children unregistered. Some parents were also unaware of the benefits of birth registration. However this year, the innovative pilot project for birth registration through mobile phones has made the entire process easy and efficient.

During 14-16 March, staff from the ESCAP Statistics Division met with key stakeholders in Viet Nam to discuss improvements to the CRVS system and the National Action Programme on CRVS. ESCAP staff and an expert consultant met with the Ministry of Justice, Agency for Civil registration, Nationality and Attestation, People's Committee of Nghia Tan ward, Ministry of Health, General Statistics Office and colleagues from UNICEF, UNHCR, WHO and UNFPA. 

The Pacific Civil Registrars Network (PCRN) has been working to facilitate cross-border sharing of civil registration records where birth has occurred in one country and the death occurs in another country. This is a common situation in many Pacific countries and causes national security problems with personal identities remaining open following death and incomplete mortality data.

Do you want to know how many countries in Asia and the Pacific have a CRVS coordination mechanism? Are you interested in how ambitious the national targets are for the CRVS Decade? Do you know when countries in Asia and the Pacific aim to be able to produce annual vital statistics reports?