Pakistan Ulema Council Chairman Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi on Saturday issued a press statement saying that he supported the use of birth spacing as it insured the mother’s health and endowed the newborn child with greater care and attention from its parents.
Maternal and newborn health has remained an ignored state agenda in Pakistan. The maternal mortality rate is the highest in South Asia, with about 12,000 deaths due to childbirth each year said a press release. Newborns fared no better: an estimated 298,000 newborns died annually and those who survive often remain in poor health, with many dying before the age of 5. The country’s under 5 mortality rate was 424,377 in 2010.
Effective ways of preventing maternal, neonatal and under-5 mortality were family planning and birth spacing. Birth spacing or inter-pregnancy gap was important as it directly affected maternal and newborn health. Stressing this Hafiz Ashrafi said “I think it is incorrect to believe that birth prevention is completely forbidden in Islam. Islamic scholars have explored many conditions in this regard which need our attention because only a healthy baby and a healthy mother can build a nation.”
While terrorist acts get more media coverage and national attention, no value has been assigned to the millions of mothers and newborns who lose their lives every year.
Hafiz Tahir further added, “We need to deliberate how important being a strong and healthy nation is. The Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) directed Muslims to build a strong nation and Ummah, thus it is important to practice birth spacing to safeguard mothers’ and children’s health.”