In Tanzania, where just 19
percent of births are registered, the government is using mobile technology
provided by a local company to ensure newborns have access to basic rights,
social services, immunizations, health care and schooling.
Registration information on
newborns can now be entered into mobile phones which send data to a central
database using Tigo, Tanzania’s first cellular network. Tigo is a subsidiary of
Millicom International Cellular S.A., which claims to serve 43 million
customers in 13 emerging markets in Africa, according to a report in AllAfrica.
Fewer than 20 percent of all
births are registered in Somalia, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Zambia, according to
UNICEF.
In Ethiopia and Tanzania, more
than five times more children are registered in urban areas than rural. Many
countries have introduced legislation to make birth registration mandatory, but
only nine issue free birth certificates. UNICEF is supporting governments to
strengthen and expand birth registration services in Eritrea, Kenya,
Madagascar, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Tanzania and Uganda, the report
said.
Mobile technology in solving
social challenges, especially in sub-Saharan Africa where its contribution to
development is growing day by day, said Woinde Shisael, a Tigo officer. The
birth registration app is designed to work on all models of mobile phones.
UNICEF representative, Jama
Gulaid said the most basic of all children’s rights is an official recognition
of their existence and nationality.
In Uganda, the mobile vital
records system is using mobile technology that allows village registration
agents to send birth registration details of newborns via mobile phones to
local hospitals connected to a three-gigabyte web-based application, according
to GSMA, a mobile provider.
By Dana Sanchez
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