By Hawa Malishe
Zomba, Mana: National Registration Bureau (NRB) has registered 50, 000 deaths through the national death registration programme.
NRB Public Relations Officer, Norman Fulatira said in an interview on Tuesday that the figures are from 2015 when the bureau started registering and issuing death certificates.
Although there is progress on the programme, Fulatira bemoaned lack of interest amongst Malawians to register people or relatives who have died saying it is one of the many factors hindering success of the programme.
Malawi introduced death registration in August 2015 with the aim of having actual numbers of people living in a particular area.
“This is important as it helps government in developmental planning,” said Fulatira.
He said the bureau has since rolled out the programme to all the 28 districts with only 17 districts doing registration at community level.
Fulatira said community registration has been adopted to fasten the process and ensure that every death is registered than was the case where people would only register at the district offices.
“We oriented stakeholders such as chiefs on death registration. Currently, we are in the process of rolling-out community death registration system to all districts so that, every death is registered,” he said.
When contacted, Senior Chief Malemia of Zomba hailed NRB for rolling out the community death registration, saying it would also help chiefs know the exact number of people living in their areas.
In addition, the chief said through death registration, government would be aware of areas where death is common and the causative factors.
“Because government will be aware of people living in a particular area it will be guided in terms of areas of assistance as well as development,” Malemia said.
Meanwhile, NRB has intensified awareness activities to ensure that people understand the importance of registering death.
