Lawmakers call for stronger legislation for family planning

Say there is a dire need for continuing expansion of family health services and education

LAHORE: There is a dire need for the continuing expansion of family health services and education in Punjab in order to achieve the development goal.

This was the crux of the views expressed by legislators at a consultative session organised by the Population Council.

The lawmakers expressed the need for new and stronger legislation for mandatory provision of Family Planning and Mother and Child Health services as well as counselling at all health care facilities.

These were two of several elements on which there emerged a multi-party consensus on dealing with the population issue confronting Punjab.

Recognising that population growth is a cross-sectoral issue that impacts all aspects of life, lawmakers expressed their enthusiastic support for urgent and substantial improvement in family planning services to support for the right of couples to use contraception.

Citing current fertility trends in Punjab, Population Council Country Director Dr Zeba Sathar said that over 5,500 mothers die due to pregnancy and delivery-related complications each year in Punjab.

She said that while Punjab is ahead in population planning than the other provinces in the country, it still faces the cost of neglect. Most of the young people entering the labor force do not have secondary education while 8.5 million children are out of school in the province, she added.

Members of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz  (PML-N) represented their parties at the session. Former provincial minister for population welfare and environment protection Begum Zakia Shahnawaz and Chairperson of Standing Committee on Population Welfare Abida Bibi spoke at the event.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 20^th, 2019.