ISLAMABAD: At the conclusion of the Population Summit on Friday, the federal and provincial governments vowed to invest in the people by prioritising investments in health and education, including reproductive health.

The two-day summit was attended by representatives from the federal and provincial governments, religious scholars, civil society, diplomats and international experts.

Speaking at the summit, Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal said the economic condition of the country had been the government’s priority up till now.

However, he added that it was time to focus on the population problem.

The minister said: “It is time to put our people first in our development agenda through urgent investments in measures for population reduction and improvements in education and health.”

Provincial governments vowed to increase the contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) and to set new goals. It was decided that the Punjab government will aim to increase CPR from 41 per cent to 55.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government will increase CPR from 28 to 42 per cent; Sindh will aim to raise it from 30 to 45 per cent and Balochistan from 20 to 32 per cent.

It was discussed that all provinces faced similar problems, for example that people did not have health facilities close by.

However, Balochistan faced the additional challenge of illegal immigrants.

The federal government representatives said the provinces were now responsible for their own population programmes and that they should make their own plans and secure assistance from international organisations themselves.

The role of the federal government will be restricted to facilitating and coordinating the programmes.

The two-day seminar was organised by the Ministries of National Health Services, Planning and Development with support from the Population Council and the United Nations Population Fund.

Published in Dawn, November 7th, 2015

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