Page 201 - Special Topic Session (STS) - Volume 4

STS579 Nazaria Baharudin et al.
branches across the country, including 18 UTC (Urban Transformation Centre)
and 11 RTC (Rural Transformation Centre). NRD offices in UTC open daily from
8.30 am to 10 pm. The UTCs are especially very popular with the urban poor
as they can come to these centers after normal working hours to register or
use other public services.
But, similar to other developing countries, Malaysia faces various
challenges in capturing vital information of all individuals in the country largely
due to geographical, resource and communication barriers. There are remote
areas that pose accessibility difficulties to public officers to reach out to
inhabitants of these areas or villages either to register or to educate and
inform them.
To overcome this issue, NRD has intensified and strengthen the outreach
program to those who have no access to the NRD office. In 2015, a total of
1,554 outreach programs were held across the country and as many as 32,151
applications were completed within the year. In 2016, as many as 1,772
outreach programs were held across the country and as many as 60,023
applications have been resolved. Target groups who benefit from this
outreach program comprised of old citizens, disabled person, orphans, and
those living in rural areas who do not have access to the NRD office.

3. Strategies for Improving CRVS Systems in Malaysia
Malaysia undertakes several strategies to improve the CRVS system in
Malaysia. The strategies are as follows:
i. Improvements on data quality and dissemination. The activities
include:
a. Data harmonization with Ministry of Health: Maternal death,
under five death, stillbirth;
b. Data adjustment due to under reporting of deaths;
c. Reduce time lapse to publish annual publication of Vital Statistics
and Causes of Deaths from two years to one year;
d. Production of Quarterly Vital Statistics starting 2017;
e. Statistics by small area (by District level) starting 2018; and
f. Producing new indicators (i.e. premature death, death rate for
selected COD).
ii. Improvement on legislation
a. Revision on Birth and Death Registration Act (Act 299) 1957 in
2016. The revision enlists the following:
• "Special provision as to registration of birth and deaths";
• Births and deaths can be registered at any NRD in Peninsular
Malaysia (online system);
• Extending the period of birth registration up to 60 days and
abolished late birth registration; and

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