The cover of The Lancet’s series booklet Who Counts? has the following phrase, “Too many people, especially the poor, are never counted; they are born, and live and die uncounted and ignored.”
At the beginning of the Series there is a comment by The Lancet’s editor, Dr. Richard Horton, in which he writes “This ‘scandal of invisibility’ means that millions of human beings are born and die without leaving any record of their existence. Over three-quarters of them are to be found in sub-Saharan Africa and South-East Asia.”
Documentation of a person’s existence authenticates his/her citizenship for a start, and represents the initial step in making sure they have a right to life, freedom, and protection, the author explains. Over the last four decades there has been little progress in counting human lives around the globe, according to Who Counts?
“Today, less than a third of the world’s population is covered by accurate data on births and deaths. Far greater global urgency needs to be injected into this challenge,” Dr. Horton writes. He says there should be robust and effective national statistics systems at country level, strong government ministries, legal systems, civil service and local information networks. There should also be a vocal civil society which urges and makes governments act. “The health sector can be an important catalyst in this effort.”
“Globally, there is a gap. No single UN agency currently has responsibility for registering births and deaths. This absence has led the Who Counts? team to call for a new international body to improve civil registration efforts. But they concede that the likelihood of a new organization being inaugurated is low. In the interim, they urge donors and global partners to do more to promote and support registration systems. Ultimately, this campaign is about how much each of us values the life of every other human being. It is a test of our humanity,” Horton concludes.
www.thelancet.com
Written by: Christian Nordqvist