Chalamila: Accurate birth, death records key to development

DAR ES SALAAM: THE government has stressed the critical role of accurate birth and death records in shaping effective health and development policies.

Speaking during the Multi-Country Sample Registration System (SRS) Planning and Experience Sharing Conference held recently in Dar es Salaam, the Dar es Salaam Regional Commissioner, Albert Chalamila, noted Tanzania’s ongoing efforts to strengthen its sample registration system in collaboration with local and international partners.

“These statistics enable us to plan better. If we know who is dying, where and why, we can intervene early,” Chalamila said, citing a disease outbreak in Kagera Region where inadequate death reporting delayed health interventions. He noted that Tanzania is working closely with institutions such as the Ifakara Health Institute (IHI) and Vital Strategies to enhance the collection and utilisation of vital statistics.

Mr Chalamila also called on the public to take an active role in reporting births and deaths, stressing that such data is essential for timely public health responses and sound policy formulation.

Director of the Ifakara Health Institute, Dr Honorati Masanja echoed the Commissioner’s remarks, noting the institute’s collaboration with the Ministry of Health, the Registration, Insolvency and Trusteeship Agency (RITA), the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the National Muslim Council of Tanzania (BAKWATA) to implement the SRS system.

“One of our biggest challenges is the lack of user-friendly systems. Sometimes the data exists but doesn’t reach the right authorities in time,” Dr Masanja explained. He said that the SRS project aims to provide a realistic picture of the nation’s health using professional, timely and equitable methods.

Also speaking at the conference, Vice-President for Public Health Programmes and Director for Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) Improvement, Mr Philip Setei, based in New York, stressed the importance of reliable data in policy-making.

“We cannot plan appropriate services without knowing the causes of death. These data form the foundation for saving lives,” Setei said, adding that Tanzania has demonstrated a strong commitment to this agenda for over 20 years.

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He cited Mozambique as an example of a country that has successfully integrated mortality data into its health systems, enabling evidence-based decision-making.

Senior Fellow at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Sam Dolan reaffirmed the foundation’s support for Tanzania’s efforts. “Tanzania is one of six African countries benefiting from our initial support, alongside Sierra Leone and Mozambique,” she said, noting the foundation’s continued financial and technical assistance to the SRS initiative.

The conference brought together local and international experts to share experiences and strategies aimed at improving civil registration and vital statistics systems across Africa