World Population Day 11th July 2021: Messages from Chief Minister, Sindh

TEXT: The province of Sindh is pleased to commemorate the World Population Day on July 11, 2021. Despite the current times of COVID-19 crisis, our perseverance and keenness towards uplifting the community by safeguarding rights of women and girls remains unhampered.

World Population Day is a yearly United Nations (UN) event, observed annually on July 11, with an aim to create and raise awareness about the national and international population issues. The event was initiated by the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme in 1989. As per the resolution of December 1990, the UN General Assembly unanimously took a decision to continue the observance of the World Population Day to address population issues, raise awareness, and support women and girls identify their basic rights. In 1990, The Day was first marked in more than 90 countries.

The Government of Sindh is committed to providing the basic human right to individual for having access to safe and free family planning services. We need to understand and acknowledge the fact that family planning doesn’t only help in achieving gender equality and women empowerment, but also plays a vital role in addressing the issue of poverty and basic human rights. I’m contented to say that Sindh is at the forefront to fulfill its international and national commitments to meet the FP2030 targets.

Sindh has been dealing with the consistent growth of population mainly due to national growth and migration. This rapid expansion of the population is impacting the socioeconomic development of the province in specific and country at large. Considering these the Government of Sindh is also focusing on peri-urban areas, where population grows unchecked.

After devolution, Sindh was the first province to draft a roadmap for Pakistan's FP2020, as pledged at the London Summit in 2012. In this regard, initially FP2020 working group was established and later a Costed Implementation Plan (CIP) based on national and international success stories was developed and launched in 2015.

Moving forward in 2016, Sindh was the first province to take the initiative of formulating a population policy. This demonstrates the resolve and dedication of the Government of Sindh to safeguard the rights of women and girls.

Sindh has taken the lead in enacting major legislation for women’s and girls' rights, that includes the Reproductive Health Rights Act of 2019, the Child Marriage Restraint Act of 2013 and the Domestic Violence Prevention and Protection Act, 2013.

The top priority of the Government of Sindh is to curb the alarming growth of Population. In this regard, Sindh Population Task Force meetings are held regularly and functional integration between departments is ensured. Sindh also maintains a contraceptive commodity security.

Today, as we commemorate World Population Day, I can confidently state that my government is committed to protect the health rights of Sindh’s population. The “Sindh Family Planning and Reproductive Guidelines for COVID-19" is an illustration of our commitment to address the root cause of population issues.

I pledge my unwavering support for Population Welfare Department, Sindh. The Sindh Government will provide political, administrative, and financial assistance to PWDS to empower them to work towards achieving the set goals and objectives of addressing reproductive health issues, and safeguarding rights of women and girls of Sindh.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021