Pretoria - Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma will launch the KwaZulu-Natal Stakeholder Forum and National Population Register (NPR) Campaign in Donnybrook, KwaZulu-Natal, on Friday.
She will be supported by KZN Premier Zweli Mkhize at the launch in the Ingwe Local Municipality.
The NPR campaign aims to encourage parents to register their babies within 30 days of birth so that they can, among other things, access social services provided by the government.
"In the long term, the successful implementation of the NPR will ensure there is only one point of entry into the population register, at birth. Ultimately this will ensure the credibility, integrity and security of the country's population register," the department said.
To help parents register their babies within 30 days, since January this year the department has linked 327 health facilities to its data base, enabling parents to register their babies and receive birth certificates before they leave the hospital.
Since the campaign was launched nationally by President Jacob Zuma in March 2010, the department has recorded improvements in the registration of newborns and identity document applications.
There has also been a significant decrease in the number of IDs being re-issued.
With the help of the countrywide stakeholder fora, 899 618 births were registered from April 2010 to January 2011, 793 567 or 88 percent of which were registered within a year.
"This exceeded the target of 70% we had set for the registration of babies within one year of birth," the department said.
Of the births registered within the first year, 412 655 or 52 percent of them were registered within 30 days. - BuaNews
