ISLAMABAD, Aug 16: All existing as well as future planning for the country’s development will have no positive effects until population growth is checked with active collaboration of civil society organizations.

This was the convergence point of speakers at a seminar on “Role of Population in Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers for Pakistan” here on Saturday. The seminar was organized by the Population Association of Pakistan (PAP).

The speakers agreed that partnership among civil society organizations and public sector was a must for effective family planning.

They also shared the opinion that unavailability of family planning services to the major chunk of population in the rural areas was one of the major factors leading to high population growth rate (2.06 per cent) in the country.

Dr Zeba A. Sathar, president of the PAP, dilated on various dimensions of the poverty-population relationship.

With population increasing, more and more people are falling below the poverty line, she said, adding that a number of studies carried out all over the world had made it clear that no country could progress without an effective family planning.

She was of the view that participation of civil society in the family planning was one of the areas where we have been lacking.