EDITORIAL: Rapid population rise widely recognised as a major challenge to this country’s socio-economic progress, figures in all major political parties manifestoes, but almost always pushed to the side by them when in power.
At a well-timed event held in Islamabad on Wednesday, co-sponsored by the Population Council and the UN Fund for Population Activities, representatives of the newly-formed Coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and other speakers urged all parties in the just recently announced government to translate their respective population planning commitments into policies and ensure their implementation.
Since seeing is believing one of them asked of the prime minister-in-waiting to include the subject in his first address to the nation, and also form a taskforce on population control, chaired by him and convened at the earliest.
Over the years, successive governments have been running a population control programme, though keeping it low profile for fear of resistance from the religious establishment, which terms increasing numbers as a will of God. Yet Bangladesh, Iran, and several other Muslim countries have managed to control population growth. Another good example is that of a South Asian country, Sri Lanka.
More relevant to Pakistan’s context, however, is what Bangladesh, with similar religious and cultural traditions as ours, has done to achieve the desired result. Helped by private sector organisations it has found ways of dealing with the clergy’s opposition, making contraceptives available all over the country, including rural areas. Of an even greater significance has been the realisation that there is a correlation between fertility rate and education. And that the key to success is to enhance women’s access to education so they are better informed about reproductive health and advantages of family planning. That has enabled Bangladesh to bring down its growth rate to the replacement level of 2.1. Pakistan, on the other hand, barring Afghanistan, has the highest growth rate in this region.
Education and healthcare receive the lowest priority in our annual budgetary allocations. Sadly but unsurprising, therefore, Pakistan lags behind all South Asian nations on human development indices. Meanwhile, every year nearly five million children are born.
At this rate, warn those with an eye on the issue, Pakistan will have over 300 million people by 2030, putting more and more pressure on already grossly inadequate healthcare facilities, educational institutions, food, water, housing, and social services. Lest the situation gets out of hand, governments at Centre and in the provinces need to pay heed to the CSOs’ call for taking targeted initiatives to address the unmet needs of women, and involve the private sector in expanding family planning services.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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