(Freetown, Monday 25th October 2021) – The National Civil Registration Authority (NCRA) with support from the Government of Sierra Leone and UNICEF has conducted a one-day training for Health Workers; specifically in-Charges of Peripheral health Units (PHUs) in the Western Rural District on Births and Deaths Registration Procedures Using Mobile App, at the Buxton Memorial Church Hall, Freetown.
In her opening remarks, the Ag. Deputy Director of Human Resource at NCRA; Roselyn Massaquoi, who doubles as the Lead Facilitator of the training, thanked health workers for always supporting the NCRA in it strive for national development, noting that the significance of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics towards national development cannot be overemphasized.
Mrs. Massaquoi highlighted that the purpose of the training was to enhance Births registration and Death’s notification in the Western Rural district, while also capacitating in-charges of PHUs on how to use mobile technology Application to Notify NCRA of live Births and Deaths Registration in their various health facilities. She added that the training will increase the capacity of In-charges of PHUs to effectively and efficiently use Information and communications technology since the world is fastly going digital now. She maintained that the training will make recording of CRSV activities simple, fast and secure. “All information captured immediately the child is born, will be stored at the NCRA database,” Mrs. Massaquoi informed “this will prevent the recording of false data, thus minimizing personal data manipulation by fraudsters.” She added.
She disclosed that CRVS activities when properly planned and conducted will help government in allocating development projects to various parts of the Country based on how the needs and wants of the people are assessed. She encouraged In-Charges to be Meticulous in collecting data on live Births and Deaths in their respective healthcare facilities.
The Acting Deputy Director of Human Resource further admonished In-Charges to share the knowledge they have acquired from the training with Junior Staff in their respective Healthcare facilities, stating that it would make the work environment conducive for all and sundry even when they are not around.
Mrs. Massaquoi admonished participants to put more effort in the area of strengthening births and Deaths registration by encouraging and ensuring that parents register their children at birth.
The Deputy Director of Births and Deaths, Alhaji Samuka Nallo provided answers to questions raised by In-Charges during the training session. He provided an in-depth analysis of CRVS activities nationwide and the tremendous successes being made by NCRA through Births and Deaths Registration in Sierra Leone. Mr. Nalloh emphasized the importance of CRVS activities on nation building.
In his PowerPoint presentation on the use of the Mobile App, the Network Manager of NCRA Simeon Sowa, who was co-facilitator of the training, told the In-Charges that the App could be downloaded from Play store and Apple store for use. He said the App is outsourced, but NCRA is in full control of it.
Mr. Sowa added that the App is user friendly and encouraged participants to pay keen attention during the training.
“When the App is downloaded, the user is required to fill in certain information and only certified personnel can use it for the intended purposes.” Mr. Sowa cited.
According to the Network Manager, the App requests for the Name of the child, Parents, Date of Birth, Gender of Child and Supervisor code. This according to Mr. Sowa is customized settings on the App. “We encourage you all to allow the people to spell their personal data how they wish because data once captured cannot be easily changed.” Mr. Sowa explained.
More than 60 health workers (In-Charges) in the Western Area Rural including NCRA staff were trained on the use of the mobile Application for Births and Deaths Registration.
A hands-on training exercise on the use of the software application for births and deaths registration was conducted for the in-charges. The exercise was jointly facilitated by the Network Manager, Simeon Sowa and the NCRA Western Rural District ICT Officer, Mohamed Deen Sesay.
Similar training sessions were conducted in the Northern and North-West Regions by NCRA with Support from UNICEF and the Government of Sierra Leone.
©IEC DIRECTORATE, NCRA
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