|
Islamabad: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Friday said his government would strive to reduce the existing 2.9 per cent population growth rate in Pakistan to 1.55 per cent in the next five years.
Addressing a national convention on the World Population Day, he pledged substantial budgetary and political support for programmes aimed at controlling rapid increase in population, currently estimated at more than 160 million.
"It is obvious that in a developing country like Pakistan, a net addition of 2.9 million people every year will nullify and eat up all the achievements in the socio-economic sectors," he said.
Gilani said an effective strategic planning for population management was among the government's top most priorities.
Family planning was not just a duty but a fundamental right of every citizen, he said. The prime minister urged the civil society, media and intelligentsia to play their part in sensitising the people about their right to plan families and it's benefits for society and the country.
He said a recent survey had revealed some health trends with 63 per cent of women in reproductive age not favouring additional children or wanting the next birth postponed.
"If these women were successfully approached, the growth rate of population can be brought under control, in the near future," he said.
Gilani said Islamic countries like Iran, Tunisia, Morocco and Bangladesh had already set good examples of population control and called for learning from their experiences.
He said low literacy rate among women posed a formidable challenge for the managers of population welfare programmes and stressed the need for reproductive health and family planning services.
"Unless infant mortality is drastically reduced, people will continue to have more children. The current infant mortality rate i unacceptably high, especially when the majority of these deaths are preventable," he said.
|
