Family planning took center stage at the 25th Annual Population Research Conference, held at IBA University with USAID’s Building Healthy Families (BHF) project organizing a dynamic panel discussion titled “Flip the FP: A New Call to Action.” The session engaged policymakers, experts, and youth in exploring actionable strategies to strengthen family planning programmes in Pakistan.
The panel featured distinguished speakers, including Dr. Kaiser Bengali, renowned economist; Dr. Tamkenat Mansoor, prominent content creator; Khursheed Nadeem, TV host and Chairperson of the National Rehmatul Lil Aalameen wa Khatamun Nabiyyin Authority; and Dr. Iffat Zafar Agha, CEO of Sehat Khani. The session was chaired by Ms. Nida Khuhro, Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Population Welfare, and moderated by representatives of USAID’s BHF project. The discussion delved into the structural, cultural, communal, and behavioral determinants influencing family planning in Pakistan. Panelists shared insights into key challenges and proposed unified and coordinated actions to align societal attitudes, promote grassroots engagement, and drive policy implementation.
The audience included students, faculty members, civil society representatives, international organizations, and participants from across the country. Young attendees, particularly students from IBA, enriched the dialogue with their unique perspectives, posing thought- provoking questions that highlighted the importance of youth engagement in shaping family planning policies.Dr. Kaiser Bengali emphasized the importance of involving sociologists and psychologists in research to deepen our understanding of community dynamics. He highlighted the need to explore how people and communities perceive and respond to various issues, uncovering their motivations and perspectives. Dr. Bengali stressed that such insights are crucial for designing interventions that are not only evidence-based but also tailored to the specific needs and realities of the communities.
Dr. Tamkenatunderscored the disconnect between development agendas and the immediate concerns of communities, emphasizing that a person struggling for survival prioritizes feeding their family and meeting basic necessities over broader development issues.
