HYDERABAD: A new innovative project to boost birth registration rates by using mobile phone technology has been launched in a ceremony held in Hyderabad on Wednesday. The project is jointly implemented in district Sujawal and Tando Muhammad Khan by Local Government & HTP Department, Health Department and Schools Education Department of the Government of Sindh in collaboration with Plan International Pakistan. A local civil society organization Research and Development Foundation (RDF) is also part of the project, working on community mobilization through a communication campaign. Digital Birth Registration (DBR) aims to strengthen the civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) system by introducing innovation and an effective digital birth registration solution, which is expected to increase birth registration rates by up to 80 percent by the end of 2018. Speaking on the occasion, Chief Guest, Dr. Muhammad Akhlaq Khan, DG Health Services, Sindh applauded Plan International for introducing the much needed digital birth registration system and extended his full support for the implementation of the project activities. He stated “DBR will simplify the complicated birth registration system and also support the health department, especially in vaccination and immunization campaigns”. Fazl-e-Rabi Cheema, Assistant Commissioner, Tando Muhammad Khan said “It is the responsibility of the government to provide birth registration services to everyone. The new digital system is the first step towards achieving this goal which will not only provide socio-economic services to citizen but also provide the government with key statistics for important policy decisions.” Safdar Raza, Country Advocacy Manager, Plan International said Plan works to protect the rights of child through community empowerment models. He informed that Plan has been involved in birth registration since 1997 and so far has helped the government register around 2 million births throughout Pakistan. Zahid Jalbani, Project Manager, Plan International briefed participants on the background of the project and revealed that,”According to a Pakistan Demographic & Health Survey 2012-13, only 34 percent children under the age of five are registered in Pakistan. Among the regions, 74 percent of children in Islamabad, 46 percent in Punjab, 25 percent in Sindh, 23 percent in Gilgit Baltistan, 10 percent in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and only 8 percent in Balochistan are registered. Sindh is among the least performing regions and these figures are more alarming in the case of district Sujawal and Tando Muhammad Khan where birth registration rate is 3.4 percent and 6.8 percent (MICS), respectively.” Sharing details of the project he said, “The key feature of this project is the use of mobile phones by Lady Health Workers to register births at doorsteps, saving the hassle of visiting government offices. The registration data, after validation will be stored at a central location, eventually transforming it into a robust digital civil registration database”. The other key speaker at the event included Rashida Soomro, DEO Tando Muhammad Khan, Ubaidullah Siddiqui, Director-LG-Hyderabad and Ashfaque Ahmed Soomro, Deputy Executive Director, Research and Development Foundation (RDF).