Société

Birth Registration: Fabrice Ondoa’s Visit Boosts Yaounde VI Figures

Par Kimeng Hilton
11 mai 2022 08:18
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The impact today is glaring after the UNICEF Cameroon Goodwill Ambassador in 2019 met with council officials to promote the acquisition of birth certificates for children.

"Since the visit three years ago of the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF Cameroon Goodwill Ambassador, Fabrice Ondoa, I can confidently say that we are seeing increasingly better results in birth registrations in our office. The visit helped in changing the attitude of local people towards getting birth certificates for their children,” explains Nseke Ekobo Adalbert Willy.

Ondoua’s Visit Turns Tides
The Service Head for Population and Civil Status Registration, and Focal Point Computerisation of Civil Status Archives in Yaounde VI Subdivisional Council, says annual birth registration in the council head office rose from 5,450 in 2017 to 6,400 in 2019. In 2020, the figure climbed to 6,600. “The Mayor has been sensitising the public on getting birth certificates for their children. Birth certificates are free for newborns if their births are declared within the legal timeframe,” Nseke insists.
“Since the coming of Fabrice Ondoa to our office, birth registration has been on the rise. This is because of the media sensitisation that accompanied the visit. Moreover, the sensitisation we undertake regularly and the quality of our services, all contribute in raising the numbers of birth certificates issued,” Mayor Jacques Yoki Onana says.

Shortened Issuance Time
Similarly, Mayor Onana has slashed the timeframe for issuing birth certificates from two weeks in 2015 to 48 hours today. Yaounde VI Subdivisional Council also organises regular birth registration campaigns. The last was with the Governor for Centre Region, Naseri Paul Bea. Yoki Onana says birth registration in the council head office is done through birth declarations forwarded by health facilities and by parents coming forth to declare the birth of their children.

Good, Helpful Partners
The council’s work is facilitated by the good relations it maintains with health facilities in the council area. And the support it receives from partners like the National Civil Registration Office, BUNEC, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, UNHCR and the French Embassy in Cameroon.