KARACHI, July 13: Speakers at a meeting on Sunday said that the high population growth rate in the country could only be brought down to the desired level if the government and non-governmental organizations worked with full commitment and dedication.
They were speaking at the meeting organized by the Sindh Population Welfare Department, at the Baradari Lawn in the Polo Ground. A family welfare mela was also held where different NGOs working for the cause of family planning had set up over 25 stalls. The speakers said that due to the unchecked and high population growth rate the economic progress made by the country over the years had been neutralised. They opined that if the population growth had been kept under control, the people of the country would have become more prosperous.
They said that though with much efforts, both by the government as well as the NGOs, the population growth, which was over 3 per cent per annum, a few years back, had been brought down to around 2.1 per cent. It was still more than the desired level and the government planned to bring the growth rate down to around 1.9 per cent in a couple of years or so.
They said that even the present 2.1 per cent growth rate was highest as compared to that in the neighbouring countries of China, India, Bangladesh, Iran, Sri Lanka etc. They said that the contraceptive prevalence rate in the country was among the lowest in the region.
They said that the government, by making efforts to provide comprehensive reproductive health services, was trying to bring down the maternal mortality, which was one of the highest in the world.
They urged the people to have only as many children whom they could feed well and provide good quality health care and education so that their next generation was comparatively better off then they were.
They said that though under the government policy the family planning programmes were carried out with federal funding, it was good sign that the Sindh government had allocated over Rs30 million from its funds for the purpose. The speakers urged the other provinces to follow the step.
They said that the federal government had increased the funding from last year’s Rs313 million to Rs5.18 million, this year, which was around 65 per cent increase. They said that foreign donors were also playing their due role by providing funds for carrying out the population welfare programmes in the country.
They said that the population welfare department had succeeded in convincing the education department to include the subject of reproductive health in the syllabi of classes 9 to 14.
They said that the Sindh government with the help of its over 370 family welfare centres; 28 reproductive health centres, 34 mobile service units and over 345 male mobilizers, was trying to provide service to the people living even in the remotest parts of the province.
They also urged the media to play their due role in creating and spreading awareness regarding this serious issue, among the masses.
Sindh Population Welfare Minister Imtiaz Shaikh, country representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Dr Oliver Brasseur, federal population welfare secretary Abdul Rasheed Khan, Sindh population welfare secretary Mushtaq Memon and others spoke at the function conducted by Shaheen Zamir. Despite the government claims that it was working with the NGOs and appreciated their work, not a single NGO representative was called to speak at the function that started nearly a couple of hours late.
Zeenat Yasmin, Bakhat Ali, Mohammad Haneef, Riaz Khan, Nasreen Khan, Jaffer Baloch, Jamshed Akhtar, Ghulam Shabbir, Rukhsana Mughal, Mahjabeen shah, Shahid Winston, Neelofar, Abdul Jabbar, Zubeida Ismail and Nazia Khan were given awards for their performance during the year.
A musical concert followed the meeting, which was held after a day-long family welfare mela.
KARACHI, July 13: Speakers at a meeting on Sunday said that the high population growth rate in the country could only be brought down to the desired level if the government and non-governmental organizations worked with full commitment and dedication.
