Government hopes to register about a million children under the age of five by the end of this year.<\/p>\n
Tanzania has launched a nationwide drive to help parents register their children\u2019s births by mobile phone so the government can better plan health, education and other public services.<\/p>\n
The new system being rolled out across the country over the next five years allows a health worker to send the baby\u2019s name, sex, date of birth and family details by phone to a central data base and a birth certificate is issued free of charge in days.<\/p>\n
The initiative is run by the government registration agency RITA, UNICEF and telecommunications company Tigo. RITA\u2019s acting head Emmy Hudson said the project had accelerated birth registration after years of stagnation.<\/p>\n
The country has one of the lowest rates of birth registration in eastern and southern Africa. Some 80 percent of Tanzanians \u2013 and more than nine in 10 under-fives \u2013 do not have birth certificates, according to the 2012 census.<\/p>\n
Parents have to pay 3,500 Tanzanian shillings ($1.6) if they request a birth certificate within 90 days of a child\u2019s birth, or 4,000 shillings afterwards, as well as travel costs \u2013 a high price in a country where many rural people live on less than $1 a day.<\/p>\n