The demand for birth certificates by schools before admitting children at Kindergarten in the Brong Ahafo Region, has resulted in an increase in the registration of births in the region. The region registered 24,399 children aged less than one year in 2008, 12,473 of them being males and 11,926 females. Mr. Francis Kupo, Regional Director of Births and Deaths Registry, disclosed these in an interview with GNA in Sunyani. He said the region was expected to register 95 per cent of births this year and asked parents to register their babies since it was free. Mr. Kupo said births registration was significant because government could use data from the exercise for economic planning. He announced that the regional office was planning to attach birth registration units to health centers in the region to ensure that every new born baby was registered at birth. Mr Kupo said the regional office lacked adequate staff, offices and logistics, citing that it had only two staff whilst some district officers manned more than a district. He said some non-governmental organisations (NGOs), were training volunteers to assist in births registration. Mr Kupo advised families to register the deaths of any member since that was equally important. Source: GNA