Staff Reporter
President Arif Alvi on Tuesday said that the dream of prosperous Pakistan could not be materialized without having effective management of population growth and stressed upon a close collaboration between the Ministry of National Health Services and provincial governments in this regard.
The President was chairing the first meeting of the Federal Task Force on Population here at the President House. The president stressed upon the federal and provincial offices to coordinate implementation of the action plan to make it a success.
Meanwhile, Special Assistant to the PM on Health Dr Zafar Mirza called the task force session a historic step and a major advancement over the matter. He said the population if continued to grow at the present pace it will double within next 30 years.
The agenda of the meeting was to prepare a national narrative and the strategy, on the instructions of the Council of Common Interest, he said.
Dr. Mirza said the 1st meeting of the Federal Task Force on Alarming Population Growth in Pakistan presided by the President Arif Alvi is a major step forward and an important landmark.
In a statement he said that the agenda of the meeting was to approve National Action Plan, discuss National Narrative prepared on the direction of CCI’s decision taken in its 40th meeting held on 19th November, 2018 and set up the Pakistan Population Fund.
The Action Plan prepared by Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination spells out the actions required to implement each CCI Recommendation with timeline, budget and output / impact indicators. It also indicates the responsible body to carry out the Action Plan and other stakeholders involved in the implementation of the particular Action.
This Action Plan aims to Increase the present Contraceptive Prevalence Rate of 34% to 50% by 2025 and 60% by 2030, Reduce the present Fertility Rate of 3.6 births per woman to 2.8 births by 2025 and 2.2 birth per woman by 2030 and lower the present Average Population Growth Rate of 2.4% to 1.5% by 2025, and to 1.1% by 2030.
The Federal Task Force meeting also decided to create a Pakistan Population Fund.
The fund shall be utilized to meet 50% amount of additional allocations made by the provinces for procurement of contraceptive commodities over and above the budget provision for 5 years and 2. 50% cost of increase in LHWs for 100% coverage for doorstep services in rural and urban areas Support innovative approaches of Federal & Provincial Governments for reaching poor and marginalized population to reduce population growth and increase contraceptive prevalence rate.
A National Narrative was deliberated to create a sense of urgency and necessity of reducing population growth rate and achieving socio-economic wellbeing for all.
Dr. Zafar Mirza made a detailed presentation on each agenda item and after thorough discussion Action Plan was approved by the forum. It was agreed by the members of task force to convene the next meeting in a month’s time.
