Population Welfare Department, Punjab in collaboration with United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and Mir Khalil ur Rahman Memorial Society organized a Round-table Conference on “Population Welfare: Mother and Child Health” at a local hotel in Islamabad. The purpose of the Conference was to emphasize the role of religious leaders and stakeholders in creating and promoting awareness about family planning.
Syeda Abida Hussain, Former Federal Minister speaking on the occasion said that during the time of creation of Pakistan, it had only 30 million population which had swollen to over 180 million now. There are large number of members in a family as compared to India and Bangladesh. There is need to consider to think about country resources with the rate of increase in the population. If the population was not controlled then the country would face countless challenges. She expressed concern over mother and child diet, saying their health was being affected owing to lack of protein in their diet.
Zakiya Shahnawaz, Advisor to the Punjab Chief Minister said that the provincial government is fully focused on mother and child health. Only a healthy mother could set foundation of a healthy nation. There is need to give more focus on education of females. She also urged women to go for regular medical check up for mother-child health.
Dr Farzana, Former Parliamentary Secretary for Health called for involving religious leaders and stakeholders in promotion of family planning. Instead of merely criticizing the problem, she said, there was need to come up with a plan after consultation.
Ms. Sakina Shaheen, Parliamentarian, said literate people were following family planning while population was increasing in illiterate families. There should be some kind of law which should be obeyed by everyone.
Punjab Population Welfare Department secretary Javed Akhtar said the concept of family planning was introduced in 1953 in the country but, unfortunately, the efforts to control population had been a failure. Indonesia and Bangladesh had copied our programs to achieve success in this regard. Owing to gap in birth, the health of both mother and child improves. It also gave mothers more time for character building of their children, he added.
He termed it unfortunate that Pakistan had the highest death ratio of below five year children among other South Asian countries, saying the country was ranked 141st out of 182 countries with regard to Human Development Index (HDI).
Dr. Shaheena Asif said the development and progress of any country could be gauged by the kind of facilities being provided to mothers, children and old people of that country. She said it was unfortunate that even today 400 women, out of 100,000, died during pregnancy, or at the time of delivery.
Dr. Jamil Ahmed of UNFPA said women parliamentarians had great role to play in controlling the increasing population. After the 18th Amendment, the subject of population welfare had been shifted to the provinces.
Others who spoke on the occasion include: Wasif Nagi, Chairman Mir Khalil ur Rahman Memorial Society (MKRMS), Dr Munawar Sabir, Dr Ghazala Rana, Sidra Karamat and Dr Hafeez.