Uganda has a National Identification and Registration Authority that is responsible for birth and death registration in terms of the Registration of Persons Act, 2015. It is headed by an Executive Director appointed by the Minister responsible for internal affairs, who operates under the direction of a Board that is also appointed by the Minister. Registration centers throughout the country operate according to a uniform set of procedures, with local registrars registering births and deaths and forwarding data to the Authority. Local registration centers include local government offices, health facilities, post offices, schools, and prisons and other places of detention as well as offices of the National Identification and Registration Authority located throughout the country.
Summary
Uganda
Uganda
Civil Registration System
Does the law designate a national level agency responsible for civil registration?
Does the law provide for a uniform process to complete civil registrations across the country?
At what level of civil division are primary registration offices located?
Does the law establish, or authorize the establishment of, secondary civil registration offices under the jurisdiction of the primary civil registration office?
Is the local civil registrar empowered by law to register vital events? If yes, do they have the power to issue certificates of registration?
Does the law require the local civil registration office to transmit registration records to the national civil registration authority on a regular and timely basis?
Does the law provide for a right and a process to appeal a decision of a civil registrar?
Does the law authorize the local civil registrar to use mobile registration to reach remote or rural areas?
Does the law require that the civil registration authority share data with the agency responsible for producing vital statistics, on a regular and timely basis?
Does the law block the use of technology, such as electronic collection, transmission and storage of data, within the civil registration system?
Is there a national coordinating committee to address issues on the functioning of the civil registration system and its integration with other systems, such as the health sector, vital statistics, national identity system, medicolegal death investigation, and others?
Birth Registration
Uganda’s primary legislation on civil registration is the Registration of Persons Act, 2015. Birth registration in Uganda is universal, compulsory, and free, with the right to universal birth registration being guaranteed by the Constitution. There is a sliding scale of fees for birth certificates for citizens where a birth is registered after the child reaches the age of six months, while non-citizens must pay a fee for a birth certificate no matter when the birth is registered. Medical facilities are designated as registration centers, and the officer in charge of a hospital has a duty to ensure that the required birth notification takes place for births occurring in that hospital.
Is birth registration available and compulsory for all births occurring within the country's jurisdiction?
Does the law provide a clear definition of live birth? If yes, does the definition accord with international guidelines?
Where must births be reported?
What are the reporting periods for birth registration specified in law?
Are there any fees for on-time birth registration?
Is the original birth certificate provided free of charge?
Who is designated as the primary informant for births occurring in health facilities?
Who is designated the primary informant for births occurring outside health facilities?
Are there additional or alternative documents required for late or delayed birth registration?
Is a Unique Personal Identifier (UPI) assigned at birth registration for every child born in the country?
Death Registration
Death registration is governed by the Registration of Persons Act, 2015. Death registration in Uganda is universal, free and compulsory, with universal death registration being guaranteed by the Constitution. There is a fee for death certificates for citizens where a birth is registered later than one year after its occurrence, while non-citizens must pay a fee for a death certificate no matter when the birth is registered. The primary informant is the nearest relative present at the time of death or present in the same area as the deceased. However, where a death occurs inside a medical facility, the administrator of the facility has a duty to obtain the relevant particulars and to record the death. Most medical facilities have been designated as registration centers, making the law unclear on whether the administrator of the medical facility acts as the primary informant, or obtains the particulars of the death and records them as part of the duties of a registration center.
Is death registration available and compulsory for all events occurring in the country's jurisdiction?
Where must deaths be reported?
Does the law provide a clear definition of death? If yes, does the definition accord with international guidelines?
What are the reporting time periods for death registration specified in the law?
Who is designated as the primary informant for natural deaths that occur in a health facility?
Are there any fees for on-time death registration?
Who is designated primary informant for natural deaths occurring outside a health facility?
Are there additional or alternative documents required for late or delayed death registration?
What role do local leaders or local authorities have in the registration process for deaths that occur in the community?
Does the law link retirment of a UPI and/or identity credential to death registration?
Is the original death certificate provided free of charge?
Stillbirth Reporting
The civil registration system does not define or record stillbirths. Uganda’s Ministry of Health records statistics on stillbirths through its Health Management Information System (HMIS), but no law mandates this and these records are not linked to the civil registration system.
Does the law provide a definition of fetal death? If yes, does the definition of fetal death accord with international guidelines?
Does the law provide a definition of, or criteria for stillbirth? If yes, does the definition of or criteria for stillbirth accord with international guidelines?
What system(s) are used to report stillbirths?
Is stillbirth registration available and compulsory for all stillbirths occurring within the country's jurisdiction?
Who is the designated primary informant for declaring stillbirths to the civil registrar?
What is the role of the health sector in stillbirth registration?
Where must stillbirths be reported?
Are there any fees for stillbirth registration?
Does the civil register contain a separate register for stillbirths, distinct from birth and death registers?
Does the law mandate reporting of all stillbirths through the health sector?
Does the law require or request medical certification of cause of death for stillbirths? If yes, does the medical certificate of cause of death used, accord with the WHO MCCD form?
Cause of Death
Medical certification of causes of death is generally covered by the Registration of Persons Act, 2015. A Medical Certificate of the Cause of Death (MCCD) is completed by a medical professional and provided directly to the registration officer by the medical professional. The Inquests Act applies to cases referred for possible inquests, where the MCCD is supplied by the person who performs the post-mortem examination at the direction of the coroner.
Does the law require a cause of death (CoD) to register a death?
Does the law clearly state who is responsible for medically certifying cause of death, for natural deaths occurring in a health facility?
Does the law designate a certifier of cause of death, for natural deaths occurring under medical supervision but outside a health facility?
Does the law provide a form to certify cause of death? If yes, does the form accord with WHO Medical Certificate of Cause of Death Form?
Does the law clearly state who is responsible for medically certifying cause of death when deaths are unnatural or suspicious, or otherwise referred to the MLDI authority?
Does the standard form death certificate include cause of death information?
Does the law allow for the use of verbal autopsy when there is no MCCD?
Medicolegal Death Investigation
Uganda has a coroner system for medicolegal death investigations, and the procedures for conducting medicolegal death investigations are governed primarily by the Inquests Act. A coroner must consider holding an inquest in any case where there is reasonable cause to suspect that the death was violent or unnatural, or caused or accelerated by violence or wrongful conduct. Inquests are required in every case where a person died in custody (in prison, in police custody or while confined in any lockup or mental institution), or in a road accident, a workplace accident or a mine.
Who is designated as the primary informant for unnatural or suspicious deaths?
What type of medicolegal death investigation (MLDI) system does the country have?
Does the law clearly state what types of cases must be referred to the MLDI authority and is this in accordance with international guidance?
Does the law mandate that law enforcement and/or heads of custodial institutions report all deaths in custody to the medicolegal death investigation authority?
For a death referred to the MLDI system, does the law specify how cause of death information is transmitted to the civil registrar and/or statistics agency?
Vital Statistics
The Uganda Bureau of Statistics Act 1998 establishes the Uganda Bureau of Statistics, which is the principal data collecting and disseminating agency for national statistics on a range of topics including “Population” and “Vital occurrences and mortality”. The Uganda Bureau of Statistics Act generally requires cooperation with other lead agencies in the development of an integrated national statistical system. There is no legal requirement for sharing civil registration data with the Bureau, but national data on vital statistics is derived from the civil registration system in practice. A representative of the Uganda Bureau of Statistics sits on the Board of the National Identification and Registration Authority. The law does not address the anonymization of shared vital statistics data.