State Minister National Health Services, Regulations & Coordination, Dr Mahesh Kumar Malani has said that the unchecked population growth is closely linked to the lack of family planning services, resulting in adverse effects on various aspects of national life, including high rates of malnutrition, infant, neonatal, and maternal mortality.
He stated this during his keynote address at a high-level Parliamentary meeting on Increasing Investment in Family Planning for Sustainable Development. The Minister of State reaffirmed the government’s commitment to provide high-quality family planning services to enhance the health of mothers and children.Addressing parliamentarians from major political parties, Dr Mahesh Kumar emphasized the significance of population planning in achieving sustainable population growth in the country. This objective can be accomplished by generating demand for family planning services and simultaneously expanding the fiscal space to enhance the quality and availability of such services. The meeting organized by Population Council with the cooperation of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) was attended by members of the senate, national and provincial assemblies, as well as senior officials from relevant provincial and federal government departments. In her welcome remarks, Dr. Zeba Sathar, Country Director of the Population Council, commended the commitment of parliamentarians from major political parties in reaching a consensus on the importance of population management, which lies at the core of Pakistan’s development challenges. She added, “Legislators are representatives of the people of Pakistan and play a crucial role in developing effective policies for the well-being of citizens.”
Dr. Sathar stressed the need to increase the allocation to the Population Fund, which was approved by the Council of Common Interests (CCI) in 2018. These funds should be utilized to provide financing to provinces for designated functions, such as expanding universal coverage of family planning through the expansion of Lady Health Worker.
