Under the umbrella of a strategic collaboration between the Iraq Ministry of Health (MoH), UNICEF Iraq, and ISEET’s technology experts, a series of training workshops were launched as parts of the efforts to strengthen the country’s digital birth registration and vaccination systems.

These workshops, serving as an integral part of UNICEF’s contribution to the digitalization of the Iraqi health sector, highlight the project’s core mission to provide innovative digital health services from birth, reduce zero-dose children, and track their status at every service delivery point. The project is built around the development of the Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) System, where the MoH’s IT team, supported by ISEET, actively participated in targeted workshops tailored to equip them with the knowledge and skills needed to know how to properly navigate it and harness its potential.

During these workshops, characterized by their on-the-job and interactive design, ISEET presented foundational elements of the CRVS system and engaged participants in refining the application design and laying out the system structure and functionality. The project is set to support the digitalization process of birth registration and link it to immunization programs in all primary health centers while supporting the rollout of DHIS2 software in the country, encompassing programs like immunization and nutrition.

One of the highlights of these workshops was the team’s field visit to the Maternity Teaching Hospital in Erbil, which signifies a crucial step in the mission to develop an efficient and modernized software solution for birth registration in the Kurdistan region. A subsequent meeting with the Planning Department, featuring discussions led by Dr. Kenan Al Marsoumi, Director of the Health, and Vital Statistics Department at MoH, emphasized the necessity of such an integrated system to bring revolutionary change it has the potential to bring to the community.

During the closing ceremony, project stakeholders shared perspectives on implementation challenges and the progress of the CRVS system. The Director General of Planning, Dr. Sarhang Jalal Jambaz, from the Ministry of Health in the Kurdistan Regional Government, highlighted the importance of these workshops in developing a dashboard that can ensure data validation for births outside mainstream healthcare facilities. The ceremony concluded with the MoH, UNICEF, and ISEET teams awarding certificates to participants, marking the fruitful collaboration and accomplishments of the training program.

Currently, the project is progressing toward executing the remaining workshops focused on programming and coding, complemented by intensive testing stages for optimal performance. These deliberate actions signal the onset of a new and transformative period in Iraq’s digital health management.