NIRA Highlights Africa’s Plan to Raise Death Registration to 80% by 2036
Uganda’s National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) has highlighted a new continental initiative aimed at improving death registration across Africa, where only about 10% of deaths are officially recorded.
The initiative, known as Africa’s Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) Decade, will run from 2026 to 2036, with a target of achieving an 80% death registration completion rate by the end of the 10-year period.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, NIRA drew attention to the importance of strengthening civil registration systems, noting that incomplete death records create significant challenges for public health planning and national development.
When deaths go unrecorded, governments lack complete information about mortality patterns and the causes of death. This makes it more difficult to identify major health challenges, plan appropriate interventions and allocate resources where they are most needed.
The new framework seeks to address these gaps through improved technology, stronger civil registration systems and better collection of cause-of-death information. Its broader objective is to ensure that more deaths are documented and that reliable statistics are available to guide government decisions.
One of the initiative’s key pillars is interoperability, which involves linking civil registration systems with health facilities and national identification databases. This approach is expected to improve information sharing, reduce missing records and make the registration of vital events more efficient.
The framework also prioritises decentralisation by bringing registration services closer to rural and hard-to-reach communities. Expanding access to these services is essential to reducing barriers that prevent families from registering deaths and other vital events.
NIRA noted that Uganda is already making progress in linking and streamlining its national identification and civil registration systems to improve the registration of important life events.
The integration of these systems is intended to support more efficient record management and strengthen coordination between institutions responsible for documenting vital events.
Other African countries, including Kenya, Cameroon and Liberia, are also updating their legal frameworks and technological infrastructure to improve civil registration and connect records covering the different stages of life, from birth to death.
Stronger Civil Registration and Vital Statistics systems can provide governments with more reliable population data to support healthcare planning, public administration and national development. Accurate records also help authorities better understand mortality trends and assess the needs of their populations.
Achieving the 80% target by 2036 will require sustained investment in technology, effective coordination between government agencies and improved access to registration services, particularly in underserved communities.
Through its emphasis on the CRVS Decade, NIRA has brought attention to the importance of reliable vital records in building effective public services and supporting evidence-based policymaking across Africa.
The initiative aims to ensure that more deaths are officially documented, helping countries close critical data gaps and make better-informed decisions about public health and development.
