Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen says the government will roll out the Electronic Birth Notification System (e-Birth) to SHA-contracted hospitals countrywide by December 2026.
Speaking on Sunday during President William Ruto’s development tour of Nandi County, Murkomen said the system will eliminate paperwork, reduce delays, and simplify birth registration.
The platform allows hospitals to transmit newborns’ details electronically to Civil Registration Services, with parents receiving notifications via SMS and email.
Each child will be assigned a Unique Personal Identifier (UPI), known as Maisha Namba, which will later transition into a national ID number at age 18.
The system was piloted in Nairobi in May 2026 across 372 health facilities, registering more than 270,000 newborns.
Murkomen said the initiative is part of the government’s wider digital transformation agenda aimed at improving efficiency and making essential public services more accessible to Kenyans.
He also highlighted reforms waiving fees for first-time ID applications, ID replacements and changes to personal particulars, and measures intended to ease access to vital identification documents.