Daily Times

LAHORE: Population growth was highlighted as a critical agenda due to the status of Pakistan as the 13th most populous country in the world while our population has quadrupled since Family Planning Policy of 1965.

Experts, during the round table discussion have expressed severe concerns about increasing population in Pakistan, particularly in Punjab and stressed upon adoption of family planning methods.

Punjab Public Health Agency (PPHA), a public sector organisation that works under Dr Shabnam Sarfaraz organised the policy roundtable on Family Planning in Punjab – The Way Forward on Friday.

Attended by leading population experts, the dialogue was organised to review the national provincial experiences of the last six decades and devise strategic inflection points to enable a demographic transition in Punjab and also to achieve FP2020 targets for Pakistan. It was noted after long discussion sessions that family planning should become a national priority.

PPHA Chief Executive Officer Dr Shabnum Sarfaraz said that the contraceptives remain sub-optimal, while fertility, population growth and unmet need for family planning was high. There were many layers of influencers and contributors inhibiting substantial progress. In 2012-13, contraceptive use stood at 35.4 percent and has now lowered to 34.2 percent, which takes us further away from our FP2020 commitment of 50 percent.

She added that the percentage of women not using contraceptives has increased from 64.6 to 65.8.

In Punjab, family planning trends mirror the national situation, with contraceptive use declining from 40.7 percent to 38.3 percent within the last five years.

The use of modern contraceptive methods has also declined in Punjab, while the use of traditional methods remain roughly the same.

Integrated Reproductive Maternal Neonatal & Child Health Programme Additional Technical Director Dr Naeem Majeed informed the audience of the efforts undertaken by the department to monitor family planning counseling and services offered by the lady health workers in the field. He highlighted the need to address uncovered areas and the gaping unmet needs of family planning.

United Stated Agency for International Development Global Health Supply Chain Programme Country Director Dr Muhammad Tariq highlighted the ever-evolving challenges of meeting the needs of the people. Senior Country Adviser for the population program of Packard Foundation, Dr Yasmin Qazi suggested scaling of successful local models like Marvi to mobilise communities. She also strongly emphasised on the scaling up of the LHWs’ cadre. She emphasised on the need of political will more than anything else.

Dr Nabila Ali stressed upon all the missed opportunities and that it will cost only Rs 250,000 per training and three such trainings to train all the female health workforce in the country.

Green Star Technical Services Chief Syed Khurram advised policy makers to approach this challenge at national, provincial and district levels with customized approaches for maximum output. He strongly advocated for legislation to encourage production of contraceptives within the country.

JSI Research & Training Institute Policy Adviser Dr Babar Tasneem Sheikh discussed the non-surprise element of the PDHS 2017-18, considering the population growth results received last year with the National Census 2017. He remarked on the need of political mileage for the family planning agenda and the need of integration of family planning within health services immediately, to change the current non-curve in our demographic transition.

All the participants strongly recommended that the current systems were in dire need of a management paradigm shift, if an altered population status is desired. The recommendations were discussed and debated upon.

Published in Daily Times, September 15^th 2018.