Population Summit 2015 concludes with pledges to boost human development in Pakistan through priority investments in education and health
The Population Summit 2015 concluded on Friday with momentous decisions and pledges by the federal and provincial governments to boost human development in Pakistan through priority investments in education and health, including reproductive health.
The two-day event, organized by the federal ministries of National Health Services and Planning and Development, along with the Population Council and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), was attended by a vibrant spectrum of stakeholders, including senior figures representing the federal and provincial governments; religious scholars and leaders; civil society organizations; international organizations and the diplomatic community.
The inaugural session of the high-profile event was chaired by the President Mamnoon Hussain, who said that the population issue must be tackled expeditiously to safeguard the interests of future generations of Pakistanis and ensure that they could thrive in a progressive, technologically advanced, and peaceful country.
The president hailed the fact that a wide-ranging consensus had been reached among all stakeholders, including all provincial and regional governments, all political parties, and the ulema, on this issue and said that we must now build upon this consensus. He said that it must be ensured that affordable reproductive health services are available to the people at their doorsteps, as this is their basic right. He also spoke on the need for focusing government attention on girls’ schooling and skill development of the youth.
President Mamnoon Hussain said that government commitment to population programmes had been inconsistent in the past, but the broad-based consensus unveiled at the Population Summit should assure all stakeholders that Pakistan is now moving firmly in a positive direction. The President pledged that, by 2020, Pakistan will raise its contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) to 50 per cent, which is a composite goal based on goals set by the respective provincial governments. The president also announced that, to ensure that the fruits of development reached all people, a national census would be reached in 2016.
During the event, senior representatives of the provincial governments and special regions also pledged the specific provincial CPR goals, including 55 per cent for Punjab; 42 per cent for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa; 45 per cent for Sindh; and 32 per cent for Balochistan. In addition, the regional representatives shared the unique challenges they faced, such as the problem of large distances, high maternal mortality and illegal immigrants in Balochistan. They also talked about the progress they had made in terms of improving and expanding their networks of family welfare centers (FWCs), mobile service units (MSUs), reproductive health facilities and outreach workers; developing training centers; social mobilization efforts and efforts to secure their contraceptive supplies beyond 2015. All provincial and regional representatives expressed their strong willingness to increase access to family planning as well as the great need for technical and financial assistance from the federal government and international organizations to achieve their goals.
The modalities of how the federal and provincial governments could work together after devolution were discussed. The federal representatives assured the provinces that they now owned the population programmes and should make their own plans and secure assistance from international organizations directly the role of the federal government is restricted to facilitating coordination and international reporting.
Population Summit 2015 marked the first time in Pakistan that the issue of rapid population growth in the country was acknowledged candidly by all stakeholders, including ulema from all schools of thought, as a matter of urgent national concern. Participants termed it a milestone and a turning point in the national development discourse.
Representatives of the international community and organizations congratulated the country on coming together to identify the population and human development issue as a core priority and assured the gathering of their continued support.
Addressing the closing session, Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal said that it was deplorable that while Pakistan was a middle-income country, its performance against social indicators is at the level of the least developed nations. He said it is time for the country to put people first in the development agenda through urgent investments in reducing population growth and in improving education and health so that the nation can emerge as a strong player in the current era of knowledge-based economies.