The reproductive health centres set up by the Ministry of Population Welfare are successfully educating people about population-related issues, while more concerted efforts are underway to check rapid population growth.
Sources told Business Recorder here on Monday that the Ministry of Population Welfare was taking steps to expand network of its reproductive health services to far-flung areas in order to provide essential basic health information to maximum number of people.
The sources, however, claimed that lacking co-ordination between the Federal and Provincial population welfare departments are hindering the efforts aimed at provision of family planning services at the doorstep of the people. There was a need to gear up efforts to check the rapid growth of population with a view to striking a balance between population and resources, the sources said.
The sources also said that unchecked growth of population is creating many socio-economic problems like poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, environmental degradation besides increase in crimes.
Moreover, the Punjab Minister for Population Welfare Neelam Jabbar Chaudhry said that in order to provide health, education, sanitation, safe and clean drinking water and other civic amenities to every citizen of the country we have to control the rapidly growing population.
She said the Population Welfare Department would launch a comprehensive awareness campaign aimed at checking the population growth in the province. Every citizen including community leaders, teachers, elected representatives and Ulema should play their due role in this social service, she said.
Neelam said that focus of the provincial government is upon primary and protective healthcare so as to achieve the millennium development goals (MDGs). At present, she said under five mortality rate present is 94/1000 and it will be reduced 65 by 2011 and 45 till 2015(MDGs Target), new born mortality rate is 54/1000 and it would be reduced upto 40 and 25 by years 2011 and 2015, respectively.
She told that more than 300 new family welfare centers would be established in the province for the provision of basic maternal and child healthcare facilities to the majority of the masses at their doorsteps.
Neelam said that welfare centers would be established at the villages comprising three thousand population villages and skilled birth attendants, LHVs and LHWs would be appointed at these centers because the MMR in LHWs covered area is 147/100,000 live births, compared 300 to 350/100,000 to uncovered areas.
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