Civil Society Organizations’ (CSO) Population Coalition has urged the federal and the provincial governments to involve family physicians and pharmacies to improve access to contraceptives and family planning services. The meeting of the coalition was organized by the Population Council with the support of UNFPA here in Islamabad.
In his welcome remarks, Dr Ali Mir, Senior Director Programmes, Population Council said the National Action Plan (NAP) on population management clearly stipulated the role of private sector and pharmacies in family planning service provision to enhance universal access to family planning services. “CSOs can play their role in supporting and encouraging governments to harness the private sector across the country to remove hurdles in provision of family planning services”, he added.
While explaining the Population Council’s experience on engaging male family physicians and pharmacies to expand family planning services in rural communities, Project Director Population Council Samia Ali Shah said, “Service delivery through male family physicians stimulates male engagement in crucial decision of birth spacing in a family as well as in the society.”
She observed that low uptake of contraceptives is a major contributor to Pakistan’s high maternal, child, and infant mortality. One in seven women are undernourished, 42% of Women of Reproductive Age are anemic, while 27pc and 21pc are deficient in vitamin A and zinc, respectively,” she added. Dr Saima Zubair Senior Vice President, Pakistan Academy of Family Physicians said that engaging the private sector in family planning service delivery could rapidly enhance access to services and reduce unmet need. CSOs Coalition emphasized that targeted initiatives must be taken by the government to meet the unmet need among the poorer women. They also called on provincial governments to ensure the supply of contraceptives and greater involvement of the private sector in family planning service provision.
