Through Commission resolution 69/15, countries in Asia and the Pacific requested that further regional action be taken to support the improvement of civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) systems. The regional action framework responds to that request as a catalyst for Governments and development partners to focus and accelerate their efforts to realize a shared vision and the three CRVS goals outlined in this document during the proposed civil registration and vital statistics decade for Asia and the Pacific (2015 to 2024).

As part of the reporting structure of the Regional Action Framework on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) in Asia and the Pacific, by the end of 2015, members and associate members are required to submit a baseline report to the ESCAP Secretariat through their designated national focal point. This report is the report submitted by Macau, China.

The article illustrates the large variability of estimates and the tendency to underestimate uncertainty in South Africa and conclude that unless a country has a nationally representative system to track maternal deaths, there is likely to be a great deal of uncertainty about maternal mortality.

This publication serves as a report of an Expert Roundtable that was held in Bangkok on the 28th and 29th of October 2010 to discuss initiatives in South East Asia in the field of statelessness and provides an insight into some of the region’s good practices. In accordance with the agenda of the meeting itself, good practice examples are included from each of the four pillars of response: the identification, prevention and reduction of statelessness and the protection of stateless persons.