Population experts on Thursday claimed that Pakistan would be exploding a population bomb if proper preventive measures were not taken and it would be more dangerous than all the terrorism related bombs we are pre-occupied with.
Keeping in view the 2% population growth rate, it is expected that Pakistan will attain 5th position in the world in terms of total population in 2050, the speakers said at a workshop for media persons on population and its impact on society organized by Rahnuma-FPAP (Family Planning Association of Pakistan). In Pakistan, they said the infant mortality rate is 74 deaths per 1000 live births. Overall, 35 per cent of currently married women in Pakistan are currently using a contraceptive method. According to them, the unmet demand for family planning services is about 24 per cent which means that one out of every four women of reproductive age wants contraception and does not get it. This is the highest such rate in the region.
Regional Director Rahnuma Amir Hamid urged the government to keep population on priority sector because it is main hurdle in economic development of the country. The government has already made commitments at several international forums to keep population under control but it looks difficult to achieve these targets. Regional Program Manager Rahnuma-FPAP Mohammad Bilal said that 60 per cent population of Pakistan is consisting of young and the government has to focus on them to keep country on path of development.
Speaking on the occasion, Religious Scholar Izhar Bokhari said Islam is the name of planning and claimed that Islam allows family planning. The piece of land fixed and putting more and more pressure on it in the shape of population growth will create a lot of problems like education, health, roads and other infrastructures of the country. Representative Punjab Population Welfare Department was of the view that Indonesia, being a Muslim country control population growth through actively involving mosques.
Other experts were of the view that statistics regarding the prevalence of induced abortion in Pakistan are scattered and hospital based. Nearly 900,000 induced abortions occur every year and in which 40% performed by unskilled professionals in Pakistan. About 200,000 ended with complications and this figure could be even higher as it did not take into consideration the number of women who did not come to the facility.
According to WHO's estimate, 2 to 12% of maternal deaths in Pakistan are due to complication of abortion. Unwanted pregnancies are the leading cause of induced abortions in Pakistan. (1in 4 is unwanted. 6 per cent of maternal deaths are attributed to complications of abortion and the abortion rate was 29 per 1,000 women of reproductive age. The participants were further informed that of every 100 pregnancies, 14 ended in abortion. Main factors responsible for higher population growth are; illiteracy, poverty, unwanted pregnancies, lack of availability and accessibility to contraception, contraceptive failure, rape, sexual abuse and assault.
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