The government and UNFPA have approved the annual work plan for provision of $6 million grant to ministry of population welfare for implementation of family planning programme during 2005-06. The steering committee members including representatives of United Nations Population Fund, ministries of population welfare, health and education, economic affairs, planning, statistics division approved the programme after detailed discussion.
The agreement has now become implementing document of the country's action plan that was signed in January last year.
The main goal of UNFPA programme is to improve reproductive health, lower fertility and population growth rate, child spacing and controlling sexually transmitted diseases through a mutual approach. The ministry of Population Welfare would be responsible for this programme.
According to the plan, the said ministries would increase efforts for women empowerment and gender equity enhancing programme for teacher training in population related issues.
The plan will also assist in conducting of demographic surveys and increasing mobile service units to provide medical facilities in remote areas and serve for capacity building and ISO certification for reproductive health centers.
Population policy's objectives were to attain a balance resources and population growth, address various dimensions of the population issue within national laws, develop priorities while remaining within the national, social and cultural norms, officials said.