Sindh to make family planning, reproductive health essential services

Syed Murad Ali Shah orders family planning initiatives in slums of major cities for population control

KARACHI:

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah announced on Thursday that family planning and reproductive health would be given the status of essential services in the province, after being brought under legal cover.

Presiding over the third population task force meeting, the CM stressed the need for the move, stating, "Family planning and reproductive health are [two of] the most important sectors and must have the status of essential services so they may be delivered unhindered."

Following this, he directed Sindh Health and Population Welfare Minister Dr Azra Fazl Pechuho to work on the legal framework for the purpose.

Besides, the CM said that his government would also set in motion the Lady Health Workers (LHW) programme, initiated by Benazir Bhutto during her second tenure as the prime minister, to implement family planning and reproductive health initiatives.

In this regard, he directed the population welfare department to launch family planning initiatives in the slum areas of major cities so that the population growth rate could be controlled.

Further speaking on the matter, the CM said, "We have prioritised education so that sustainable behavioural change is ensured in terms of population control," and asked the population welfare department to work on achieving its target to reducing population growth rate from 2.4 per cent to two per cent over the coming 10 years.

Also addressing the meeting, Pechuho said that family planning services were partially affected by the lockdown, while reproductive health services centres and family welfare centres in health facilities across the province remained functional, in line with coronavirus-related safety measures.

Moreover, community workers like LHWs, remained in touch with citizens via WhatsApp groups, she added.

Pechuho informed the meeting that all vertical programmes - having specific, defined objectives, usually quantitative, and relating to a single condition or small group of health problems - including the LHW, Maternal, Newborn and Child Health and immunisation programmes had been integrated into the health system after being placed under the regular budget and the authority of the health director general and district health officers.

She further stated that her department had entered agreements with various partners to provide telehealth services to women and girls.

The CM directed the health minister to write a letter to the federal government, asking it to convene a taskforce meeting on population.

The population welfare department's Costed Implementation Plan technical advisor Dr Talib Lashari outlined the steps taken to fill service gaps resulting from the coronavirus outbreak.

According to Lashari, the provisions for Sindh Reproductive Healthcare Rights Act, 2018, have been finalised and sent for vetting to the law department. Once the provisions are approved, the act will be implemented, he said.

Lashari further told the meeting that a draft for the marital counselling bill had also been sent to the law department for vetting and once finalised, it would be presented before the provincial cabinet for approval.

He said that in the wake of Pakistan's commitment regarding sustainable development goals at the Nairobi Summit, an exercise was conducted to set provincial contraceptive prevalence rate goals.

"We agreed with the Ministry of Health and The United Nations Population Fund to increase the rate by 43 percent in Sindh by 2025 and 50 per cent by 2030," he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 17^th, 2020.