Photos show the world's 'uncounted' people and what it takes to be counted

The project “The Uncounted” focuses on people who lack life cycle records such as birth and death certificates. In many cases, documents may exist but are difficult to obtain. The absence of records prevents legal identity and access to rights, services, and protections. It also makes individuals invisible to health systems, leaving causes of death unknown and reducing the ability to prevent future losses. Nearly half of deaths and 25% of births go unrecorded worldwide, and even recorded cases may remain unfiled, undigitized, or inaccessible. Many deaths occur at home in remote or low-income areas, so medical descriptions of causes are often unavailable, limiting public health understanding.

"The challenge is that across the globe, an estimated half of all deaths and a quarter of all births are left unrecorded. Or even if they are recorded, the paperwork may be unfiled, undigitized and effectively inaccessible. Because the majority of deaths in remote or low-income countries occur at home rather than in a hospital, clinical or medical descriptions of the reasons for the mortalities also remain unknown."

Read at www.npr.org