Kinshasa, March 30th, 2026 (CPA).– Improving the coverage of birth and death registration was the focus of a meeting held Monday at the Limete municipal house, located in central Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. “The objective is to improve the coverage of birth and death registration through better synergy between health facilities and civil registration services, taking into account the fact that the majority of births take place in health centers,” said Noël Tichelieu, head of office in charge of civil status and population issues at the Urban Division of Interior and Security. He indicated that this initiative aims to reduce disparities observed within the capital, despite an overall satisfactory registration rate at the national level. Mr. Tichelieu outlined several measures envisaged to improve registration coverage, including raising awareness among parents, involving community outreach workers, and accelerating the processing of administrative files, which is often delayed in certain municipalities. He stressed that a birth certificate is an essential document that guarantees a child’s identity and fundamental rights.
For his part, Blaise Mawesi, monitoring officer for civil registration drafting in the city of Kinshasa, noted that the meeting aimed to plan catch-up activities and define a work plan to improve registration rates in targeted municipalities, including Kinsenso, Maluku, Limete, N’djili, Matete, Ngiri-Ngiri, Kalamu and N’sele. According to Mr. Mawesi, it is necessary to strengthen collaboration with community outreach workers and the health sector in order to identify unregistered children, following a training session planned for this activity. The meeting was held as part of the launch of catch-up activities for the registration of children aged 0 to 90 days, as well as previously unregistered births in civil registries.