Gilani urges provinces support to manage population growth

ISLAMABAD: Acting President Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani called for coordinated efforts, with input from provincial governments as well as Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, to manage the country’s growing population.

Gilani expressed these views while chairing a meeting on population management in the backdrop of Supreme Court’s 2018 suo-moto action and the subsequent recommendations of the Council of Common Interests, according to a statement issued from the President House on Friday,

The Secretary of the Ministry of Health Services, Regulation and Coordination, Dr Nadeem Mehbub; Director General Population Wing, Dr Soofia Yunus; and senior officials of the Ministry of Health attended the meeting.

The President said that the challenge of growing population needed collective efforts, especially the support of the provinces, to successfully implement the national action plan on population.

Gilani stressed the need to reduce population growth rate and improve other relevant population indicators. He said that all stakeholders, including the provincial governments and the private sector, needed to be taken on board to raise awareness about the challenge of rising population.

He also emphasised the need to increase people’s access to family planning services to fulfil their unmet needs.

The meeting was informed that a National Action Plan on Population was implemented from 2019 to 2024, and a revised National Action Plan on Population for 2025-2030 had been developed in consultation with the provinces. The new plan was awaiting approval and would be discussed in the upcoming meeting of the Federal Task Force on Population.