Over population, limited resources affect public health and prosperity: Ministers

ISLAMABAD, July 12: The government of Pakistan, which is focussing on long-term development planning with its limited resources, has said that there is a desperate need to manage population growth at a reasonable level as it would ensure provision of better human health especially of mother and child, economic stability as well as social life of people. The fresh data reveals that Pakistan is the 5th most populous country in the world, despite only being the 33rd largest in size, while its huge population is constantly eating up national resources threatening the national life especially provision of sufficient healthcare as well as quality education, job opportunities, climate change, depleting water resources and even our national security. With reference to the World Population Day marked on July 11 across the world including Pakistan, government ministers expressed their concern over the constant population growth and the meagre resources available in Pakistan emphasizing to sensitize general public about the negative implications of population growth not only on human health especially of mother and child but also on national development. “Overpopulation always eats up national resources hindering the national prosperity. There is a misconception that family planning is meant to control child birth. In fact, this initiative was launched to ensure better health of mother and child,” said Federal Health Abdul Qadir Patel in his message on the World Population Day. Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal revealed that about 60 per cent population in Pakistan is below the age of 30, who want to have better education and reasonable employment. However, with available resources in the country, perfect education facilities and jobs availability is a difficult task but we can improve it with practical measures. Federal Minister for Poverty Alleviation ShaziaMarri, termed the overpopulation a major concern for development planning in Pakistan. According to her, there is a dire need for raising awareness among the masses about growing population rate. “If we maintain a balance between national population and resources it would ensure better health of people especially of mother and child,” she remarked. The data shows that the maternal mortality ratio in Pakistan stands at 186 deaths per 100,000 live births.
The need for family planning is staggeringly high in Pakistan. The grassroots challenges are present such as misperceptions, lack of trained health staff, communication gap between the partners, and others. To make a real difference in this area and normalize family planning amongst the masses, we need to design and execute behaviour change campaigns through use of media tools that reach out to everyone across the board, including rural and most marginalized communities. As part of the efforts to raise awareness about the importance of adopting family planning measures, KhairKhwah (campaign name means well-wisher) launched an advocacy campaign on the World Population Day with testimonial videos of government officials. These video testimonials directly speak out to the population of Pakistan on the link between overpopulation and problems facing Pakistan such as economic crisis, unemployment, healthcare etc and encourage people to adopt family planning measures. At the same time, this campaign aims to mobilize the government officials and engage them to make commitments to address this growing issue. – PR