Far North: over 19,000 birth certificates issued to children
More than 19,000 birth certificates have been issued to some children in the Mayo Tsanaga division in the Far North region of Cameroon.
The certificates were handed over to these children last October 12th at the Mokolo municipal council stadium.
The initiative was led by the Minister of Public Health, Manaouda Malachie and other administrative authorities.
“Our primary objective was to produce 10,000 birth certificates but we were able to produce 19,511 which has been distributed to children across the division,” minister Manaouda explained.
He added that firm instructions have been given to all hospital officials to ensure that birth declarations are systematically made available at the civil status level in order to avoid having children without birth certificates.
The distribution brought together local elites, administrative and religious authorities, UNICEF, and the Civil status office (BUNEC) raised funds for the production of these certificates.
Also, they used the opportunity to raise awarenes on the need for every child to own a birth certificate.
According to reports, more than 500,000 persons are without birth certificates in the Mayo Tsanaga division. Reports from the National Civil Status office, BUNEC, say about 1.7 million children in Cameroon do not own birth certificates and 2/3 of these people are from the Adamawa, North, and Far North regions.
Several administrators and local authorities have been working to provide these children with birth certificates in the region. In July 2023, it should be recalled, the Mayor of Datcheka in the Mayo Danay division, Jean Claude Karmo distributed birth certificates to over 680 children in his district.
