Posted by Sandy Hutchens
Breaking down barriers
The naming of a Namibian child is traditionally reserved for the father’s family, and this practice can cause delays in birth registration. At Katutura State Hospital, the nurses and the team from Home Affairs now counsel mothers to either get an agreement on the name before birth or get the child registered when they return six weeks later for vaccinations.
“In this case, the Ministry of Health is providing facilities and the Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration provides the staff to register the children,” said UNICEF Representative in Namibia Ian MacLeod.
“They have broken down the traditional barriers of ministries not working together in the best interest of kids,” he added.
Mobile registration teams
The drive to increase registrations is also reaching children in more remote regions.
Recently in Okongo, northern Namibia, hundreds of people – including children and elderly people – camped out overnight to wait for the arrival of a mobile registration team. With the Home Affairs office hundreds of kilometres away from Okongo, transportation costs alone previously made it too expensive for many of these people seek registration.
The recent mobile registration campaign was the second one this year to bring this critical service to remote communities.
Reaching indigenous communities
An even greater challenge is ensuring the provision of birth certificates to members of Namibia’s indigenous San ethnic group, who are traditional hunter-gatherers. They are the most marginalized minority in the country, often living without access to the most critical services.