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NEWS NOTE

More than 70,000 children born during the Ebola outbreak in Liberia
at risk of exclusion if not registered, warns UNICEF

Photos and video can be downloaded from: http://uni.cf/1xZAb39


MONROVIA, Liberia 31 July 2015 UNICEF is supporting a drive by the Liberian Government to
register more than 70,000 children whose births were not recorded during the Ebola crisis, leaving
them vulnerable to marginalization and exclusion.
Birth registrations in 2014 and 2015 dropped sharply from pre-Ebola levels, according to Ministry of
Health data. In 2013, before the onset of the virus, the births of 79,000 children were registered. In
2014, when many health facilities had closed or had reduced services due to the Ebola response,
the number of registrations fell to 48,000 a 39 per cent decrease over the previous year.
Just 700 children are reported to have had their births registered between January and May 2015.
Children who have not been registered at birth officially dont exist, said Sheldon Yett, UNICEFs
Representative in Liberia. Without citizenship, children in Liberia, who have already experienced
terrible suffering because of Ebola, risk marginalization because they may be unable to access basic
health and social services, obtain identity documents, and will be in danger of being trafficked or
illegally adopted.
UNICEF is supporting the revamp of the registration systems, and will assist with training, logistics,
and outreach efforts prior to a planned nationwide campaign later this year, with the aim of reaching
all children not registered in 2014 and 2015.
Children are the future of Liberia. We cannot jeopardize their future by not having their births
registered, says Hon. Bernice Dahn, Minister of Health in Liberia. We have scaled up efforts to
clear the backlog of birth registrations from before the Ebola outbreak, and are working with
UNICEF and other partners to plan an intensive nationwide birth registration campaign in the
coming months.
In neighbouring Sierra Leone, where the Ebola emergency similarly weakened the countrys already
fragile health systems, approximately 250,000 children were registered during a recent five-day
birth registration and polio vaccination campaign.
No child should suffer the indignity, or not have protection from a state or other entities, and be
unable to access basic services that are every childs right just because of a lack of a registered
identity, says Yett. We cannot, and should never let that happen.
Prior to the Ebola outbreak, UNICEF helped increase birth registration rates in Liberia from 4 per
cent then the worlds second lowest rate to 25 per cent in 2013.

About UNICEF
UNICEF promotes the rights and wellbeing of every child, in everything we do. Together with our
partners, we work in 190 countries and territories to translate that commitment into practical
action, focusing special effort on reaching the most vulnerable and excluded children, to the benefit
of all children, everywhere.
For more information about UNICEF and its work visit www.unicef.org
Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
For further information please contact:
Rukshan Ratnam, UNICEF Liberia. rratnam@unicef.org, +231 770 267 110
Alvina Lim, UNICEF Liberia, alim@unicef.org. +231 770 267 938
Timothy Irwin, UNICEF Regional Office West and Central Africa, Dakar, Senegal tjirwin@unicef.org
+22133 869 58 58 ext. 271
Melanie Sharpe, UNICEF New York msharpe@unicef.org +1 917-251-7670

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