Call for allocating funds for family planning

Speakers urge legislators to raise growing population issue in assemblies

ISLAMABAD:

Speakers including legislators have said that if Pakistan has to achieve a sustainable population growth rate, it must increase its funding for family planning programmes.

They were speaking at a meeting organised by the Population Centre Pakistan with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and in collaboration with the Pakistan Institute for Parliamentary Services (PIPS) and the Population Council.

The seminar was held to facilitate legislators on the multifarious challenges of a rapidly growing population which call for stronger political commitment and investment in family planning and reproductive health programs in the country.

The meeting featured dialogues with subject experts, programme managers and health practitioners to focus attention on parliamentarians’ role in advocating high-impact practices that can be a game-changer to promote family planning in Pakistan. Members of the Senate, legislators from the national and provincial assemblies, and the regional body of Gilgit-Baltistan representing all major political parties attended the meeting.

Population Council Country Director Dr Zeba Sathar emphasised the role of increased and better resource allocation for family planning services to improve maternal and child health indicators due to the decline in unintended pregnancies.

She called on the parliamentarians to advocate for the allocation of Rs10 billion of the Special Population Fund stipulated by the Council of Common Interests (CCI) in 2018 to meet reducing population growth targets.

Dr Sathar also stressed the greater equity for the poorest women with unmet family planning needs through subsidies for travel expenses and provider costs.

PIPS Executive Director Mohammad Anwar said parliamentarians’ role is pivotal for oversight and accountability to address the population challenge. He stressed for legislators’ role to drive the political discourse on the population issue on the assembly floors by regularly dedicating time to discuss its impact on the country’s development.

Senator Mushahid Hussain said political parties must leverage the existing cross-party consensus on attaining sustainable population growth in Pakistan and advocate for the inclusion of critical areas of health and family planning to take centre stage in all national development and human security. Senator Waleed Iqbal stressed advocating for reducing the alarming population growth by highlighting its cross-sectoral impact on other areas of life particularly water emergency and food insecurity. He emphasised parliamentarians to promote the new national narrative of Tawazun that promotes maintaining a balance between family size and resources.

The meeting featured plenary sessions to discuss how Pakistan can bend the population curve by implementing global practices of increasing finances, utilising voucher programs and engaging the private sector to enhance outreach and access to family planning services amongst all economic cadres of the population.

Panellists exchanged how increased investments in family planning programmes are globally proven strategies to avert maternal and infant mortalities, unintended pregnancies and reduced health care costs. Citing global evidence from Mali, Uganda, Iran, Indonesia and Bangladesh, panellists said vouchers have emerged as an effective strategy to combat inequities in access to health services by the poor women.

Recognizing that population growth is a cross-sectoral issue that impacts all aspects of life, legislators expressed their enthusiastic support for urgent and substantial improvement in access to family planning and maternal health services for women.

Legislators called for taking radical steps to promote delivery, access and uptake of family planning services to manage Pakistan’s high population growth rate. They stressed capitalising on existing political will in creating a conducive environment through grass-root accountability, advocacy for population stabilization and strong policy reforms.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 10^th, 2022.