ISLAMABAD, May 14: The population explosion is the mother of all socio-economic problems in the country.

This was stated by adviser to the prime minister on women development Nilofer Bakhtiar while speaking at a certificate distribution ceremony organized by Greenstar, a social marketing organization.

The ceremony was held to award certificates to the doctors and paramedics on successful completion of their ‘voluntary surgical contraception training’, here on Wednesday.

“At present, our population is touching 146 million mark and unfortunately the growth rate at 2.1 per cent is still very high which requires serious efforts on the part of private and public sectors,” she said.

In the country, women who constitute 48 per cent of the total population are living under immensely precarious conditions—lack of education, social awareness, health and welfare infrastructures.

However, with 40,000 women councillors in the local government and 60 in the National Assembly, things will definitely improve, she added.

“We need to let our people know that unless they adopt family planning, the country will not develop,” she said.

Appreciating the efforts of the Greenstar with regard to family planning and provision of its related aids in the country, she said it was heartening to know that private sector had taken initiative to control population explosion in the country.

Ms Bakhtiar said a large section of population in the country had no access to the population planning aids and both federal population ministry and other organizations needed to reach out to them. “Only then we will be able to control ever growing population in Pakistan,” she said.

She asked the doctors to work hard to improve standards and provide better service to the less fortunate population in their respective communities.

The Greenstar chief executive, Dr Rehana Ahmad, said, at present, over 12,000 health care providers were offering affordable and quality services to the general public.

She said the doctors and paramedics had been trained in the highest level of surgical contraception and were able to offer their clients temporary and permanent methods of contraception.

“People are willing to go for the contraception, however, lack of awareness and provision of contraceptives are hindering our efforts,” she said.

APP ADDS: Ms Bakhtiar said 77 per cent of deliveries take place at home, attended sometimes by a mid-wife, which result in deaths of 83 babies out of 1,000 live births.