KARACHI, Nov 26: Dr Nafis Sadik, who is Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General and his Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Asia and Pacific, has said that women in Pakistan must have a say in the timing and number of pregnancies they go through.
Speaking at the opening session of the National Reproductive Health Leadership Conference (NRHC) here on Monday, she said: “Despite signing of many international conventions and recommendations, a lack of political will and prevalence of corruption at many levels both in the government and civil society, the fruit of UN’s efforts for reproductive health has not reached many in Pakistan.”
Expressing concern over a dismal state of the reproductive health of women in Pakistan, she said that resources must be directed at this core issue of public health.
She observed that “five per cent of married females in the age of 15 to 19, while only 12.4 per cent of married females in the age of 20 to 24 use contraceptive.” She stressed on easy access to contraceptives and other reproductive health services both for married couples and unmarried individuals.
She urged that although HIV/AIDS was so far limited to certain groups of society but rapidly changing lifestyle had made Pakistani youth adversely vulnerable to it.
“Increase in mobility seeking jobs, exposure to seductive material, tendencies of delaying marriages, child-age marriages and presence of large numbers of sexually active but unmarried youth need to be geared up to protect themselves from getting infected,” Dr Nafis said.
She emphasised the need for opening a frank and open national discussion about sexual and reproductive health and rights, and most importantly about gender equality. She said this should continue whatever the opposition, “because the purposes leaders are supporting reflect the deepest moral values, we possess.”
Elaborating, she said: “They may not reflect the narrow moral boundaries which some people would draw around sexual behavior. In that case, I would suggest that the boundaries need to be redrawn. I am not advocating immorality, quite the opposite, but in many cases I believe that restrictive morality is being used falsely, as a means of asserting power, over women in particular.”
Dr Nafis Sadiq said that as general elections were approaching, there must be strong advocacy for reproductive health matter as much as it becomes “vote getting” symbol for political leaders.
Leadership Development Programme for Mobilising Reproductive Health is an initiative of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.
One of the participants, Ms Sherrel, urged that NRHC leaders must anchor themselves into the culture and history of their target areas rather then trying to impose notions from their own perspectives.
Dr Saima Nishter mentioned un-regulated private market and lack of transparency as two main causes behind pathetic state of public health in general and reproductive health in particular in Pakistan.
Dr Dania Aziz said that public representatives should break away from the shackles of bureaucracy and innovate themselves to bring a change in reproductive health.
The speakers stressed that Islam had given enough rights to the female and an ideal code of conduct to lead an honest and modest life which, if implemented in a true sense, rather than letting a few individuals to hijack its image, could bring a revolutionary change in the society.—PPI
