An Assessment of Birth Registration Processes Among the Rural Population in Malawi: A Case Study of Traditional Authority Kasisi in Chikwawa District

UNICEF defines birth registration as the process by which birth of a child is recorded in the civil register by the government agency. It provides the first legal recognition of the child required for the child to obtain a birth certificate and this provides the basis for obtaining any other legal documents and rights. Birth registration provides an avenue for government to adequately address issues and concerns relating to children and helps to curb child abuse. To this end, Malawi Government introduced universal and compulsory birth registration of all births occurring in health facilities and communities so that children are registered at the earliest stages of their lives; so that they may receive the needed care and protection under the laws and be able to access available social services with ease. Birth registration also helps to provide up to date bio-data for citizens for planning and budgetary purposes. To guide the implementation of this programme, instruments such as the National Registration Act, 2010 and National Registration Regulations, 2015 were introduced. This research study therefore was done so as to assess progress made so far since the enactment of the National Registration (NR) Act, 2010 and other relevant enactments in Traditional Authority Kasisi in Chikwawa District, Malawi. The study revealed that most of the respondents were aware of the birth registration exercise, its benefits to both the government and citizens, but were yet to realise its importance since only a few children got their birth certificates after registering. The programme was met and continues to be met with a number of challenges at the implementation stage and the researcher has suggested solutions to help achieve compulsory yet effective birth registration for all children.