The National Population Commission (NPC) in Niger State has lamented the drop in the registration of births in the state since the past four months due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Niger State Director of the National Populations Commission (NPC), Mallam Uthman Baba made the disclosure in Minna in a chat with newsmen.
He explained that recent data revealed a reduction in the registration of births due to the COVID-19 pandemic which led to lockdown while the restriction on movement reduced the efforts the Commission made in birth registration in the state.
He stated, ” Birth registration has been low during the COVID-19 lock-down period. This is because a lot of areas were on lock-down especially in the rural areas and this affected some Primary Health Centers (PHCs).
According to him, COVID-19 made it difficult for women to access and utilize health facilities, especially as the logistics of getting to health facilities were negatively impacted.
“Therefore, the majority of the women had to give birth at home and the birth of their babies were not registered.”
He also revealed that some of the state NPC data collection officers were unable to go for the usual house to house exercise due to the restriction of movement leading to low birth registration
The State Director of NPC further said the Commission is in its final stage of digitalization of the vital and civil registration system as computers, tablets, generators and other peripherals have been procured and sent to the 25 local government areas of the state.
On the 2020 World Population Day, Baba noted that NPC will not relent in its efforts at generating demographic, health and socio-economic data to champion the course of all especially women and girls.
