KARACHI, Nov 30: Pakistan is the seventh most populated country in the world with a fertility rate at 5.08 per cent compounded by a low level of contraceptive use.

According to a report of European Commission, United Nations Population Fund (EC-UNFPA), Initiative for Reproductive Health in Asia (RHI), as a traditional society Pakistan on issues regarding family, reproductive health and gender relationships. Adolescent marriages, particularly of girls, are still common in Pakistan.

The mean age of marriage has increased from 16.7 in 1960s to 22 years in 1998 for girls. For boys, the current figure is 26.5. In the 15-19 age group three to four per cent of males and 17 per cent of females are married, implying that ‘potentially sensitive’ reproductive health issues, such as adolescent sexual and reproductive health and male involvement in family planning and contraception, have to be carefully approached and introduced.

The government is now implementing a five-year plan aimed at increasing reproductive health funding and employing female community-based reproductive health workers in over 50,000 rural and urban communities.

Pakistan has been chosen as a focal area under the EC-UNFPA RHI programme. The programme fits in with the government’s goals and supports its five-year plan.—PPI