Sindh has decided to increase its contraceptive prevalence rate by up to 50 per cent by 2030, said provincial health and population welfare minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho on Saturday, in response to Pakistan's new commitments on family planning at the Nairobi Summit on International Conference on Population and Development.
She was presiding over a webinar organised by the Sindh Health and Population Welfare Department to mark World Population Day, which was attended by national and international experts.
Speaking on the occasion, Family Planning 2020 (FP2020) managing director Martyn Smith said that Sindh was the only government in the world that had developed and announced its guidelines on family planning and reproductive health during Covid-19, at the early stages of the pandemic in March. He added that a global roadmap was being developed that would substitute the FP2020 - a movement to increase uptake of family planning in target countries.
Meanwhile, health secretary Dr Kazim Jatoi said there was a need for collaboration between the stakeholders to not only combat the pandemic but also to achieve family planning objectives.
Further, Population Council country director Dr Zeba Sathar suggested a joint collaboration of economists, educationists, health experts and family planning professionals to re-define the population agenda.
Moreover, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's Dr Yasmeen Sabeeh Kazi assured that the civil society and private sector will play its role in this regard.
Other speakers in the webinar included HANDS chief executive officer Dr Tanveer Ahmed, a youth champion from Aahung Naureen Lalani, Sindh Welfare Population Department technical advisor Dr Talib Lashari and Palladium Group director Jay Gribble.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 13th, 2020.
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