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Disclaimer / Limitations
This country’s legal measures were reviewed by our legal staff in consultation with in-country lawyers and/or CRVS legal experts. All efforts were made to ensure the accuracy of the legal analysis, however, if you consider there to be any discrepancies or if there have been changes in the law of the country since our staff last updated the legal analysis, we welcome any additional information or insights. Please contact us via this form.
Cause of Death
Ghana
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Ghana
Cause of Death
Certificates and Related Services
Certificates and Related Services
Death Certificate with cause of death information
Does the standard form death certificate include cause of death information?
No
Recommended Practice based on International Guidelines
Cause of death information, however, contains sensitive and often confidential medical information. Therefore, it is good practice to not include cause of death information on the standard form death certificate. To protect privacy while at the same time allowing for the provision of cause of death when needed, some countries provide for a long-form death certificate which contains cause of death information and a short-form death certificate which does not contain cause of death information. The long-form death certificate is only accessible to those with a legitimate interest in the cause of death, which may include family and government officials.
A death certificate (Form 22) does not include any information on the cause of death.
A person other than a person with a duty to report a specific death may obtain a certified copy of entry in the register only via an application to the High Court, which must order the provision of a copy of the entry only if the Court is satisfied that there is a compelling reason for the order to be granted and that the applicant will not use the information obtained for an improper purpose.
Other members of the public can apply in writing to the Registrar or a District Registrar to conduct a search in respect of the registration of a death or a burial or other disposition of a body, but the Registrar or District Registrar must report only whether or not the death or burial or any other disposition is registered or recorded, and if registered, the registration number.
