Palau
Palau
Nearly all births and deaths in Palau occur at the Belau National Hospital (BNH), which therefore is de facto responsible for civil registration, under the authority of the Minister of Health. When a birth occurs outside the hospital, the mother and child are transported to BNH for a check-up and the Certificate of Live Birth is issued. When a death occurs outside the hospital, there are two procedures depending on the location. If a person dies in Koror, the main city, or on Babeldaob, the main island, the body is transported to the morgue at BNH where the medical certificate is completed. If a death occurs in one of the more remote states, the death must be certified by two legally authorized persons and reported to BNH.
Every Palauan citizen and resident born in Palau is issued a hospital number when a Certificate of Live Birth is recorded at the Belau National Hospital. This hospital number is unique to each individual. The unique identifier allows matching of birth and death records from the Ministry of Health with the Clerk of Courts who serves as the Civil Registrar. This linking of data also ensures that other important records can be updated when a death occurs, including social security payments and pensions, and the electoral roll. Vital statistics are the responsibility of the Bureau of Budget and Planning, under the authority from the Ministry of Finance.
The challenges faced by this small island nation include the creation of a distinct civil registration office, the update of the legislative framework, and the improvement of the cause of death coding.
CRVS Focal Point:
Ms. Cheryl‐Ann Tmong Udui, Epidemiologist, Bureau of Public Health, Ministry of Health
Palau
Goal 1. Universal civil registration of births, deaths and other vital events |
Goal 1 Targets:
1.A
By 2024, at least … 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 … 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 … 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.
baseline
201450%
MIDTERM
201846%
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.
baseline
2014100%
MIDTERM
2018100%
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
By 2024, at least … 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.
baseline
2014100%
MIDTERM
2018100%
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.
baseline
2014100%
MIDTERM
2018100%
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
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.
TARGET
Target achieved
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.
TARGET
Target achieved
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
TARGET
Target achieved
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.
Palau
National Coordination Mechanism
Status in Palau: Complete
Comprehensive Assessment
Status in Palau: Complete
National Targets for 2024
Status in Palau: Not started
Monitoring & Reporting Plan
Status in Palau: Not started
Inequality Assessment
Status in Palau: Not started
National Strategy
Status in Palau: Plans
National Focal Point
Status in Palau: Complete
Reporting to ESCAP - Baseline
Status in Palau: Not started
Reporting to ESCAP - Midterm
Status in Palau: Complete
Palau Events
09 December 2015 - 10 December 2015
The workshop for National CRVS Focal Points is aimed at strengthening capacities for setting national targets and collecting, compiling and…
Palau News
27 March 2024
On 5 - 7 March 2024 in Palau, the Pacific Community (SPC) in collaboration with Pacific Island Health Officers Association (PIHOA), Australian Bureau…
09 February 2022
Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Palau, Vanuatu and Samoa are working to produce vital statistics report based on civil registration data. A…
01 February 2022
(Newsletter: CRVS Insight February 2022)
Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Palau, Vanuatu and Samoa are working to produce vital statistics report based…
20 October 2021
(Newsletter: CRVS Insight October 2022)
The preparations for the Second Ministerial Conference on CRVS in Asia and the Pacific are nearly complete…
08 September 2017
The Pacific Ministers of Health Meeting was held in the Cook Islands from 28-30 August. Ministers emphasized the importance of CRVS to the health…
06 September 2017
The Cook Islands hosted the Pacific Ministers of Health Meeting 28-30 August 2017. Ministers again emphasized the importance of civil registration…
11 May 2017
Road traffic accidents and injuries are an important cause of premature deaths in the Pacific Islands, but are often poorly recorded in our cause of…
03 April 2017
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…
29 April 2016
Here you can find recent news, events and blogs relevant for CRVS in Asia and the Pacific.
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Palau Resources
Meeting Documents, 2023
The Pacific Civil Registrars Network met on 20-23 March 2023 in Suva, Fiji. The meeting was organized with support of the Economic and Social…
Country Assessments and Strategies, 2020
Advocacy Materials, Country Assessments and Strategies, Report, 2019
Within the last five years, almost all Pacific Island countries and territories (PICTs) have undertaken an assessment of the civil registration and…
Advocacy Materials, 2017
Civil Registration and Vital Statistics play a key role in facilitating progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. A well-functioning CRVS…
Newsletters, 2017
Articles
Enroll in the facilitated CRVS eLearning course today
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The Regional…
Advocacy Materials, Country Assessments and Strategies, 2017
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…
Journals, Articles and Working Papers, 2010
The handbook is one of the outputs of the Asian Development Bank regional technical assistance (TA) on Improving Administrative Data Sources for the…
Meeting Documents, UN Official Documents, 2016
The seventy-first session of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific adopted resolution 71/14 on the Asian and Pacific Civil…
Meeting Documents, 2014
Civil registration and vital statistics update briefing for the meeting of ministers of health of the Pacific island countries in Honiara July 2014
International Standards and Recommendations, UN Official Documents, 2014
Through Commission resolution 69/15, countries in Asia and the Pacific requested that further regional action be taken to support the improvement of…
Meeting Documents, 2016
WHAT WE DO: We provide an opportunity to share information, lessons learned and good practice. This fosters coordination and integration of Civil…
Meeting Documents, 2014
Advocacy Materials, Meeting Documents, 2014
The Ministerial Declaration to "Get every one in the picture' in Asia and the Pacific was made at the Ministerial Conference on Civil Registration…
Meeting Documents, Report, UN Official Documents, 2014
The Report of the Ministerial Conference on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics in Asia and the Pacific gives an overview of the main outcomes of…
Events
News
Resources
Meeting Documents, 2023
Country Assessments and Strategies, 2020
Advocacy Materials, Country Assessments and Strategies, Report, 2019