Mandatory family planning course for nikkah registration on cards

National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) Chairman Tariq Malik on Wednesday expressed willingness to make an online course for spreading awareness about family planning mandatory for marriage registration.

The Nadra chairman stated these views during a consultative meeting at Health Services Academy in Islamabad, highlighting the need to ensure couples seeking to get married are well-informed about maternal health and family planning.

Goodwill ambassador of Population and Family Planning Shehzad Roy pushed for the initiative during the event as the content of an online reproductive health course called Bakhabar Noujawan [well-informed youth] was discussed.

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"18,984 children were born in Pakistan every day", said Roy as he stressed the need for measures to ensure couples were well-informed about reproductive health.

The objective of the course is to empower youth between 15 to 29 years to make informed decisions for their health and well-being so that they may become responsible members of society.

"If couples would complete the reproductive health course, they will learn about maternal health, spacing between children and contraceptives, because there is a large percentage of couples getting married that wish to engage in family planning but they are unaware [about how to go about it]", said Roy.

"I think if we could find a way to make this course compulsory, [...] it could create a large impact for Pakistan in terms of population management".

Upon this, the Nadra Chairman said that two major proposals had emerged during the consultative session for which policymaking would now follow.

"One is that alongside identification, age verification will also be carried out during marriage registration" to identify if the individuals getting married are underage or not.

"The other thing that has been suggested is pre-requisite courses for family planning [...] so if we ensure these two steps, we could control underage marriages all the while providing education".

The event was organised by the Ministry of National Health Services and the National Committee for Maternal and Neonatal Health (NCMNH), in collaboration with Association for Mothers and Newborns (AMAN) and Health Services Academy (HSA).

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Roy later took to Twitter to express his gratitude towards the concerned authorities for the initiative.

"As an ambassador for Family Planning and Population, I solute Tariq Malik for supporting NCMNH's reproductive health online course and advocating with Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination (NHSRC) to make it compulsory for all couples who wish to get married", he said.