LARKANA, Jan 23: The country representative of the United Nations Fund for Population, Dr Olivier Brasseur, has emphasized the need for reducing the rate of maternal mortality in Pakistan.

Talking to journalists here on Thursday, he said maternal mortality rate in the country stood highest in Asia while underscoring the need to improve healthcare services to cut down morbidity and mortality during pregnancy and delivery.

He suggested creating awareness among the masses coupled with discouraging the bearing of children in early age and added it was the prerogative of the couple to decide the number of offspring.

The media, he said, could play a vital role in disseminating the necessary information in this connection. Terming fast-growing population alarming, he said the swelling graph of population was giving birth to plethora of problems, including shrunken employment opportunities and housing facilities in the country.

Appreciating the economic policies of the government, he said the UNFP, under fresh assignment, had concentrated on 10 districts in Pakistan and Azad Kashmir to reduce maternal morbidity during delivery.

The districts are Jacobabad and Thatta (Sindh); Chagi and Qila Saifullah (Balochistan); Kohat and Mansehra (NWFP); Muzaffargar and Chakwal (Punjab); and Muzaffarabad and Kotli (Azad Jammu and Kashmir).

Later, he attended a reception where the district coordination officer Dr Badar Ujjan, executive district officer (finance) Yaseen Shar and others were present.