The birth registration exercise which was rolled out in Malawi in 2015 has registered significant progress.

National Registration Bureau spokesperson, Norman Fulatila said the exercise has been successful in districts such as Ntcheu where they embarked on community birth registration.

“The process has been good we are registering newly born babies but we are also moving into registering all the children present here in Malawi,” he said.

Fulatira however said that the biggest challenge the exercise is facing right now is civic education,

“We do have a substantial amount of people who do not know about birth registration,” he explained.

Birth certificates will be issued for the approximately nine million people who are below 16 years.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the UN, include goal 16.9, which states the target of providing legal identity for all globally, including birth registration by 2030.