Sindh eyes 57% contraceptive use by 2030

The government of Sindh has decided to develop a roadmap by October this year on family planning commitments made by Pakistan at an international level called FP2030 to achieve 57 per cent Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (CPR) by 2030.

This was announced by Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho, Minister for Health and Population Welfare, while chairing the 18th meeting of Sindh FP2030 Working Group here on Monday. She pointed out that Sindh government is making efforts to restore Family Planning and Reproductive Health services at the level of pre-covid time and further enhance those services.

The minister also emphasised the need for Post Pregnancy Family Planning (PPFP) and informed that in 51 hospitals, PPFP Coordination Committees have been notified. She also said that in the wake of Covid, the government is going to introduce a new mechanism of 'Self-care' by using digital platforms.

She asked for better coordination between all relevant departments and ensuring better awareness for masses for achieving the desired results. Dr Talib Lashari, Technical Advisor CIP and Focal Person FP2030 Sindh gave a detailed briefing on Family Planning performance and targets for the next 10 years and proposed FP2030 Roadmap.

He said that according to data from Health and Population Welfare Departments, PPHI and NGOs, Sindh has achieved more than 1.1 million additional users during past 6 years against the targets of 986,260. He informed that a strategy on Self-care for Sindh will be developed with support from World Health Organization (WHO) and PSI.

Shenaz Wazir Ali, President SZABIST emphasised the need for data quality and analysis. She also added that assessments of trainings should be carried out to see the impact of these trainings. Rehan Iqbal Baloch, Secretary Population Welfare Department (PWD) shared the performance of the department.

He said several Reproductive Health Service Centres have been refurbished. He shared that the construction of Population Welfare Training Institute (PWTI) will be completed very soon with state of art facilities.

He assured that Family Planning services will be enhanced further. Dr Tabinda Sarosh, Pathfinder International; Dr Haris, DFID; Dr Samina Afzal, Willows International; Dr Shabbir Awan, Ipas; Dr Aziz Rab, Greenstar; Dr Nusrat Shah, Pro Vice Chancellor DOW University; Dr Farhana Shahid, SZABIST also spoke during the meeting and shared their views. The meeting was attended by Qasim Siraj Soomro, Parliamentary Secretary Health, Dr Irshad Memon, DG Health, Farhan Qazi, Additional Secretary PWD, Shahid Abdul Salam, DG PWD, Dr Zulfiquar Dharejo, DDG Health and representatives of donors, INGOs and NGOs.