The National Populations Commission (NPC) is currently worried over the low registration of birth as recent data has revealed that in the past four months, birth registration has dropped dismally.

The Niger State Director of the National Populations Commission (NPC), Mallam Uthman Baba, who spoke with The Nation in Minna, said that the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting birth registration in the state.

According to him, the COVID-19 pandemic which came with lock-down and restriction of movement reduced the efforts the Commission had made in birth registration in the state.

“Birth registration has been low during the COVID-19 lock-down period. This is because a lot of areas were on lock-down, especially in the rural areas and this affected some Primary Health Centers (PHCs).

“COVID-19 did not make it easy for women to access and utilize health facilities, especially as the logistics of getting to health facilities were negatively impacted. Therefore, the majority of the women had to give birth at home and the birth of their babies was not registered, he said.