EGM on International Standards for Civil
Registration and Vital Statistics Systems
27-30 June 2011, New York
Towards a regional programme for the
improvement of civil registration and vital
statistics in Asia and the Pacific
Jan Smit
ESCAP Statistics Division
Overview
 Where are we on the regional programme (RP)
for the improvement of civil registration and vital
statistics (CR/VS) in Asia and the Pacific?
 How did we get here?
 How does the RP currently look like?
 What are the immediate plans?
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ESCAP
 Regional arm of the United Nations
 Intergovernmental forum for all countries and
territories of the Asian and Pacific region
 The largest of the five regional commissions of
the United Nations in terms of area covered,
people served and membership
 53 members and 9 associate members,
representing over 60 percent of world’s
population
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Resolution on CR/VS improvement
 Adopted at 67th Commission session, May 2011
 Calls upon members to:
– Review and assess current functioning of CRS and
quality of VS
– Use assessment results to develop and implement
comprehensive and costed strategies and plans to
strengthen CR/VS systems
– Strengthen capacities of relevant institutions
 Calls upon UN, international financial institutions,
development partners, NGOs, private sector to:
– Support countries in strengthening CR/VS systems
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Following decisions of CST
 ESCAP Committee on Statistics
 Forum of leaders of national statistical systems
 2nd session, Dec 2010:
– Decided that all countries should have, by 2020, the
capability to provide an agreed basic range of
population, economic, social & environmental statistics
– Agreed to fully develop a regional programme (RP) for
improving CR/VS
– Indication by several delegations of a draft resolution
on improving CR/VS systems for consideration at next
ESCAP session (May 2011)
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How did we get there?
 CST 1 (Feb 2009) recognized central role of VS in
generating reliable population estimates and
other development indicators required for policy
planning and evaluation
 But, also noted persistent lack of progress in
development of vital statistics
 Requested Secretariat to pay special attention to
VS, specifically by:
– Bringing health authorities, registrars-general and
national statisticians of member countries together
– Supporting countries with weak CR systems
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Subsequent consultation process
 Intensive, and as inclusive as possible
 Scoping & planning meeting of development
partners, May 2009
 Regional Task Force meeting, Sept 2009
 Regional forum, June 2010
 Region-wide rapid assessment of CR/VS systems
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Countries and partners involved
 Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China,
Cook Islands, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Iran,
Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal,
Philippines, Samoa, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Turkey,
Viet Nam
 Australian Bureau of Statistics, Asian
Development Bank, ESCAP, Health Metrics
Network, University of Queensland Health
Information Systems Hub, Secretariat of the
Pacific Community, UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF,
WHO
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Region-wide rapid assessments
 Using WHO-UQ HISHub tool
 Sent to all National Statistical Offices in Feb 2010
 29 NSOs have reported as of to date
–
–
–
–
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5 dysfunctional or weak
11 functional but inadequate
10 satisfactory: > 90% births & deaths registered
[Remaining 3 received recently and not yet classified]
Main challenges to be addressed through RP
1. Improving the legal framework and increasing
political commitment and public awareness
2. Strengthening national coordination and
collaboration
3. Improving completeness of registration of vital
events
4. Improving the availability and quality of VS
5. Increasing the use and dissemination of VS
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Regional programme goal
 Through increased availability and use of reliable
VS derived from CR systems, RP aims to
contribute to:
– Improved evidence-based policymaking
– Improved efficiency in resource allocation and good
governance
– Progressive realization of basic right of all citizens
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Regional programme expected outcomes
 Increased number of countries in region with:
– Sustained political commitment and enhanced public
awareness to support development and improvement
of CR/VS systems
– Strengthened legislation and established mechanisms
for coordination among key stakeholders within CR/VS
systems for effective production and dissemination of
basic VS
 Increased technical capacity of countries to:
– Record and process information on vital events for
statistical purposes
– Analyze, use and disseminate VS
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Strategy for RP
1. Supporting country commitments and plans
 Long-term, continuing efforts required
 Countries’ own commitment and investment critical
2. Stepwise approach towards progress
3. Targeting specific needs for support with a
flexible mix of activities
4. Establishing a regional resource base
5. Relying on partnership & improving coordination
 Regional coordination mechanism, Partners for
Statistics Development in Asia and the Pacific,
established in Dec 2010
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Key RP components
1. Assessing national capacity and supporting the
formulation of national action plans
 Incl. detailed assessment of CR/VS systems
2. Increasing public awareness and strengthening
political support
3. Strengthening legal framework and improving
coordination
4. Improving availability and quality of VS
5. Improving analysis, dissemination and use of VS
6. Furthering research and development
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Ongoing work and next steps
 Full development of RP & implementation plan
 Organization of ministerial-level regional forum
– ~ Feb 2012; with Health Metrics Network
– Will hopefully endorse RP
 Facilitating coordination and cooperation among
development partners
– Partners for Statistics Development in Asia-Pacific
 Supporting selected countries in formulating
improvement plans
– On basis of detailed assessment of CR/VS systems
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Thank you
ESCAP Vital Statistics:
www.unescap.org/stat/vital-stat
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