A project, which in part will ensure that all births in interior locations are registered, is on track to begin next month, according to Minister of Citizenship Winston Felix.
Speaking to Stabroek News on Wednesday, Felix said that the focus will be on Regions One, Eight, Seven and Nine along with Orealla and the riverain areas in Region Two and the Demerara River.
The project was the outcome of discussions between the government and UNICEF and is geared towards ensuring that Guyana attains and maintains universal birth registration.
The non-registration of births in the interior regions has for some time been a cause of concern. Over the years, a system was developed where provision has been made for late registrations to be done. However, there seems to be many loopholes and there are concerns that the process has been abused.
Figures obtained by Stabroek News last September had shown that there were more than 19,000 late registration of births in four interior regions combined within the last five years.
Felix had said, “We are very high currently in our registration of births. We are in the early nineties, but ninety is not a hundred and in order to avoid the issues we have had earlier on, with people not being registered, it is important that we pursue 100%.”
