An assessment of determinants for uptake of birth registration among children under the age of 4 years in Uganda.

Abstract

Around 1.4 million babies are born every year in Uganda, these have the right to be registered at birth however, only 32% of these babies are registered due to some limiting factors. Therefore, the study sought to find out which factors affect the uptake of birth registration in Uganda taking a case study of Busuubizi Parish Busimbi Sub-County in Mityana District. A total of 92 households were sampled and a well-structured questionnaire was administered to those households. Data was obtained and captured using Kobo-Collect, a computer-assisted personal interviewing programme. Of the 92 respondents, majority (53.3%) of the children were male, their average age was 20.05 months with a range of 0 to 48 months. Only 19.6% of the children possessed a birth certificate. Majority (43%) of the mothers completed secondary level, 25% completed primary, 14% completed tertiary level while 10% had not completed any level. The average maternal age was 27.9 years ranging from 18 to 46 years. Possession of knowledge about birth registration with a p value (0.000) and odds ratio of 16.625, the level of education completed by the child’s mother with a p value (0.02) and odds ratio of 1.432 as well as the place of delivery with a p value (0.03) and odds ratio of 2.470 were found have a significant impact on birth registration uptake. In order to improve birth registration uptake, great emphasis must be placed on educating both government leaders and the general public on the importance of birth registration for children. In addition, government should encourage expectant mothers to deliver in hospitals so that their children can be registered immediately after birth. Lastly, government can consider an online platform where parents can register their children on their own so that even those not born in hospitals can be accommodated.