The way forward

This paper is the fourth in a series of Lancet papers about the importance of collecting data for health development. The paper outlines courses of immediate action towards achieving comprehensive civil registration in different contexts. It also describes the critical ingredients needed for civil registration, including political commitment, a supportive legal framework, allocation of roles and responsibilities among stakeholders, mobilisation of human and financial resources, and ensuring public trust.

It shows that there is no single blueprint for establishing and maintaining civil registration systems and ensuring the availability of sound vital statistics. Each country faces a different set of challenges, and strategies must be tailored accordingly. The paper lays out three possible solutions:

• Development agencies and donors advocate for and provide technical and financial support to governments to enable them to strengthen their activities in the areas of civil registration and generation of vital statistics
• Establishing an international body with the specific mandate of improving civil registration systems by bringing all the relevant parties together more effectively
• Finding ways to harness significant new funding flows in global health including through the private sector and foundations