Namibia to introduce electronic birth notification system

Published: 27/Apr/2017
Source: APA - Windhoek (Namibia)

The Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration said it is working with the Ministry of Health and Social Services, and the Prime Minister’s Office to introduce an electronic birth notification system in the country.

In statement delivered at the just-ended ID4Africa annual conference in Windhoek, Home Affairs minister Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana said they are working on the new system that will notify the National Population Registration System (NPRS) as soon as a baby was born.

“The Namibian Government relies on birth projections for the calculation of birth statistics and birth registration statistics,” she said adding that her department aims to ensure that the citizens’ legal identities are established, immediately after birth and attached to a unique identifier.

Currently, only 60 per cent of all births occurring in Namibia are registered shortly after birth in the country, “while a unique identifier is only allocated at the age of 16 when the applicant applies for an ID card,” the minister said.

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Themes: Identity Documents, Birth Registration
Regions: Southern Africa, Namibia
Year: 2017