Population commissions to be set up, says official
By Our Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD, Feb 22: Federal Secretary for Population Welfare Shehzado Sheikh has said independent population commissions will be set up both at federal and provincial levels to address population related issues in the country.
The secretary was speaking as chief guest at a one-day seminar on "From Reproductive Health to Millennium Development Goals", organized by an NGO here on Tuesday. He said in this regard, a summary had already been prepared and it would soon be forwarded to the prime minister for formal approval.
The population commission at the federal level will be headed by the prime minister, whereas at provincial level, respective chief ministers will be the in charge of the commissions, he added.
Since population planning needs a multi-sectoral approach, Mr Sheikh said, these commissions would be taking all government departments concerned on board. Referring to initiatives which the population ministry has taken in recent past, he said National Population Policy-2002 and National Plan of Action 2001-11 were already in place.
He said as religious leaders were influential opinion- makers, therefore, the ministry had planned to hold an international Ulema conference to address the population issues this year.
Instead of straightaway talking about family planning, the ministry has now adopted a new approach and talks about reproductive health rights and child spacing which are more acceptable in the country, he added.
"Reproductive health rights and child spacing are very much Islamic, and religious leaders who are largely against family planning have shown their willingness to cooperate with the ministry."
The secretary said at present, population growth rate (1.9 per cent), fertility rate (4 per cent) and contraceptive prevalence rate (34 per cent) were still daunting challenges.
The ministry has also worked out a PC-I under which operation theatres will be set up at basic health units level to facilitate couples interested in surgical methods of family planning, he added.
Speaking on the occasion, parliamentary secretary for population Dr Donia Aziz emphasized the need for creating awareness among parliamentarians of population issues.
"Initially, I was surprised that why members of the parliament do not ask question about population ministry, knowing that the population growth rate is a major worry for the country.
"However, with the passage of time, I came to know that they do not know anything about population issues," Ms Aziz said. So far, the parliamentarians have only asked questions such as how many vehicles are with the ministry, she said.
"Therefore, I believe that besides other initiatives, major focus of both private and public sectors working on population issues should be on awareness raising campaigns so that ruling as well as ruled class could be taken on board", she added.
She said seminars should also be organized for nazims and executive district officers (EDOs) as they were responsible for policy implementations at district and tehsil levels.
