PESHAWAR, July 16: Officials on Saturday noted that the birth registration ratio in the NWFP was only 11 per cent and emphasized the need for increasing it for the socio-economic development of the country. Inaugurating a birth registration drive on Saturday, Local Government and Rural Development Secretary Baz Mohammad Khattak said the birth registration ratio of 11 per cent was very low.

District focal persons from 24 districts of the province participated in the orientation workshop arranged on the occasion by the local government department in collaboration with Plan-Pakistan, an NGO working for children globally.

The birth registration project would help form a data of newborns. The data will be used in development planning in health, education and other sectors.

In his speech, Anibal Lious Oprandi of the Plan-Pakistan said that identity of an individual played an important role in one’s personality development and birth registration ensured this right. Unregistered children were like non-entity, he added.