Experts on Thursday called for urgent amendment and strict enforcement of the Birth and Death Registration Act, 2004 to ensure universal coverage and uphold citizens鈥� fundamental rights, including access to education, healthcare, inheritance, voting, and social protection.
They made the call at a workshop organized by PROGGA (Knowledge for Progress) with support from the Global Health Advocacy Incubator, held at the Bangladesh Medical Association Bhaban in Dhaka.
Speakers said that despite the government鈥檚 commitment to achieve universal birth and death registration by 2030, gaps in the law and weak implementation remain the key obstacles.
Currently, only 50 per cent of births and 47 per cent of deaths are registered in Bangladesh鈥攚ell below the global averages of 77 and 74 per cent, respectively.
Experts warned that poor registration coverage fuels risks such as child marriage, child labour, and statelessness, while also undermining equitable national planning and governance.
They noted that under the existing law, families bear the responsibility of reporting births and deaths, with the health sector playing an optional role鈥攄espite 67 per cent of births occurring in healthcare facilities.
Many Asia-Pacific countries achieved near-universal registration by making hospitals legally responsible for the process, speakers observed, urging Bangladesh to follow suit.
Amending the law to legally mandate healthcare facilities to register all births and deaths would accelerate progress towards the Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Decade target and the Sustainable Development Goal 16.9, which calls for legal identity for all by 2030, speakers commented.
Muhammad Ruhul Quddus, Bangladesh Country Lead of GHAI, said, 鈥榃e are committed to ensuring universal birth and death registration by 2030 and to achieve this, we must reform the law and ensure its effective implementation.鈥�
Md Nazrul Islam, country coordinator of Vital Strategies, emphasized the need for public awareness, improved registrar capacity, better technology, and stronger coordination among sectors.
The workshop was also addressed by ABM Zubair, executive director of PROGGA where its programme head Hasan Shahriar delivered a presentation.
