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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.
Role of the Health Sector
Bolivia
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Civil Registration System
National Level Civil Registration Agency
National level Agency
Does the law designate a national level agency responsible for civil registration?
Yes. Servicio de Registro Cívico—SERECI (Civic Register System)
Recommended Practice based on International Guidelines
The law should clearly establish an agency with responsibility for establishing and/or managing the civil registration system. The stucture of that system varies. A centralized system has a lead agency or agencies at the central government level, with local offices. The lead central political executive exerts direct legal authority and control over major political subdivisions, such as states or provinces, which house local offices.
A decentralized system will have a lead agency or agencies at the level of each major political subdivision, and sometimes even smaller political subdivisions. The smaller political subdivision offices report to the local, as opposed to the central government in centralized systems. This topic is designed to reflect a centralized national structure, or the structure of an individual state within a decentralized system.
Birth Registration
Declaration and Notification
Informants
Who is designated the primary informant for births occurring in health facilities?
Either parent
Recommended Practice based on International Guidelines
The law should establish clearly and unequivocally one person primarily responsible for providing the information needed for the registration. Moreover, the law may designate alternative informants and establish the order in which each of them must assume his or her responsibilities. The head of the health facility should be the primary informant for live births occurring in a health facility. The law should also explicitly state what type of facility is considered a “health facility” for purposes of birth registration.
Under Resolution No. 616 of December 29, 2004, the parents or legal guardian are designated as the primary informants for birth registration. In their absence, relatives up to the third degree of kinship may submit the registration, and if no relatives are available, municipal, ecclesiastical, administrative, or judicial authorities may do so. The regulation does not distinguish between births occurring inside or outside health facilities, nor does it assign a specific role to health personnel in the registration process.
Birth Registration
Declaration and Notification
Role of the health sector
What is the role of the health sector in birth registration for births occurring in health facilities?
None
Recommended Practice based on International Guidelines
For births occurring in health facilities, the most effective approach is to designate the head of the institution (or designee) as informant. Some countries follow a two-step process where the health sector notifies the registrar of the birth, but the registration must be completed by the parents. This approach is considered less effective in ensuring high registration rates.
Bolivian legal documents do not designate the head of the health facility (or their designees) as informant.
Law Source
What is the role of the health sector in birth registration for births occurring outside health facilities?
Unclear
Recommended Practice based on International Guidelines
For births occurring outside a health facility and without a birth attendant, an effective approach for birth registraton would be if the law designated health workers (including vaccination workers, nurses, doctors and other health professionals who see newborns for paediatric visits) as informants to register the birth of children that are unregistered and visited by them.
Bolivian legal documents do not state what the role of the health facility, or its head (or their designees) is, in cases of births occurring outside of health facilities.
Law Source
Death Registration
Declaration and Notification
Informants
Who is designated as the primary informant for natural deaths that occur in a health facility?
Unclear
Recommended Practice based on International Guidelines
The law should establish clearly and unequivocally one person primarily responsible for providing the information needed for the registration. Moreover, the law may designate alternative informants and establish the order in which each of them must assume his or her responsibilities. . For natural deaths occuring in health facilities and in order of preference, the head of the health facility should be primary informant or the nearest relative/next of kin or any adult with knowledge of the facts. Additionally, the legislation should explicitly state what type of facility is considered a “health facility” for purposes of being an informant.
The law does not clearly designate a single primary informant for deaths occurring in health facilities, as recommended by international guidelines. However, Article 48 of Supreme Decree No. 24247 of March 7, 1999, establishes that the Civil Registry Officer records the death upon presentation of the medical certificate attesting to the death, which implies that the physician is the person providing the information when the death occurs within a health facility. In places where no physician is available, the article states that the Civil Registry Officer must personally verify the death.
Death Registration
Declaration and Notification
Role of the health sector
What is the role of the health sector in death registration for deaths occurring in health facilities?
Issuing of evidence of death, death record or equivalent document
Recommended Practice based on International Guidelines
When a death occurs in a healthcare facility designating the head of the health facility as the informant, and establishing systems for the collection and recording of vital events, is the most effective way of ensuring that all deaths in health facilities are registered in a timely and accurate manner. In some countries the health facility performs a notification function, collecting relevant information about the death and passing it to the civil registrar. In that situation, the informant (usually the nearest relative) still needs to attend the registry office to undertake a declaration for the death to be registered. Where the nearest relative is the informant, the health facility will usually be required to provide them with some form of evidence or record of the death that should be used by the informant for registration.
For information on the role of health facilities in determining cause of death and completing medical certificates of cause of death, see the "Cause of Death" topic.
The doctor is required to issue a medical certificate of the cause of death when the patient dies from the illness for which he or she was being treated.
What is the role of the health sector in death registration for deaths occurring outside health facilities?
Issuing evidence of death or other equivalent document
Recommended Practice based on International Guidelines
The health sector can play an important role in notifying vital events, such as deaths, that occur outside health facilities where health workers attend patients and their families in the community. Countries may designate medical officers or community health workers as informants for deaths that occur in the community. Or the health care worker may notify the civil registrar of the facts of death, but the nearest relative still needs to register the death. In some countries health workers may provide a document, such as a notice of death, to the nearest relative as official evidence of the death.
Medical attendant is designated as the person to issue the medical certificate of the cause of death. If death occurs outside of health facilities, a doctor of the closest facility is designated to issue the certification
Stillbirth Reporting
Reporting through the Civil Registration System
Role of the health sector
What is the role of the health sector in stillbirth registration?
Recommended Practice based on International Guidelines
UN guidelines provide that the head of the health facility is the preferred informant for stillbirths. Where the stillbirths are registered via the civil registration system this should be specified in the law. As with live births, some countries require the health sector to notify information about stillbirths even where the designated informant is the mother and/or father. Where the mother and/or father is the primary informant, the health sector would usually be required under the law to provide a notice of some sort as evidence of the stillbirth for the purposes of registration.
