This archive report was first published on 24 August 2021.
Published on August 24, 2021, a report by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) revealed that the registration of births and deaths in Africa has either collapsed or weakened significantly due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the report, non-digitized civil registration and vital statistics systems in Africa lack fully functional systems, making it difficult to capture real-time mortality data, which is crucial for monitoring levels and trends during pandemics.
Oliver Chinganya, the director of the African Centre for Statistics at ECA, stated that the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the inadequacies of Africa's civil registration and vital statistics systems, highlighting the need for digitalization to ensure the continuous, permanent, and compulsory recording of vital events.
Research by the ECA found that countries with digital registration systems experienced fewer disruptions, as digital tools enable the public to notify and register births and deaths in real-time.
However, national lockdowns were also blamed for the steep declines in registration, resulting in a backlog, and there is no guarantee that late reports will ever be done.
