Accra, June 6, GNA - Lack of logistics and manpower at the Births and Deaths Registry are hampering its ability to capture accurate data, a Senior Official of the Registry said on Tuesday.

Mr Seth Bosompem Kissi, Senior Registration Officer; told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Accra that the Registry also lacked funds to pay and motivate births and deaths volunteers in the districts to capture more data.

He noted that Ghana recorded a decline in the number of births and deaths during the first quarter of 2006 compared to 2005 and attributed this to the inability to capture accurate data.

Mr Kissi said provisional figures from the Births and Deaths Registry from six regions indicated that 66,191 births were recorded during the period compared to 84,313 during the same period in 2005 while 10,716 deaths were documented compared to 13,026 in 2005. The figures are from the Greater Accra, Eastern, Western, Ashanti, Volta, Brong-Ahafo Regions.

He urged the public to place premium on births and deaths registration and to register their children to enable the Government to know the national demographic representation in order to spread development projects evenly.

Mr Kissi said demographers should also see the Registry as a partner and to rely on its personnel for data collection, adding: "The money demographers pay to private researchers can be used to resource the Registry."

He called on the Government to equip the Registry and provide it with requisite human resources and logistics to boost productivity.