LAHORE:The climate change events have aggravated pre-existing vulnerabilities of poor women and children, which underscores the need for the government to include family planning in climate resilience strategies.
“The floods of 2022 in Pakistan exploited the vulnerability of poor women and children, adversely impacting pregnant women and children under five years’ of age with large-scale disruption in maternal and children healthcare in affected districts across Pakistan,” revealed a report presented during a meeting of population coalition comprising members from civil society and media on the inter-link between climate change and population, held under the auspices of Population Council with support from the UNFPA.
Based on the population estimates using district population projections 2017, Population Council shared that over 610,000 women are currently pregnant in the severely affected districts across Pakistan whereas five million children under five years of age require immunisation and nutrition care. More than 797,000 women in severely affected districts have unmet need for family planning and over 0.9 million elderly aged 65+ living in rural areas of the severely affected districts require special care.
The report does not include pregnant women and children below five years’ of age from partially or moderately affected districts of Pakistan.Besides economic loss of US$30 billion and impacting over 31 million population after one-third of country’s land was washed away, the floods have heightened vulnerabilities of poor people, especially women and children. In comparison, in last 20 years, over 10,000 lives were lost due to climate change and inflicted estimated economic losses of up to $3.8 billion.
Even though Pakistan contributes less than one percent to global carbon emission, yet it has suffered huge human and economic losses due to climate related disasters.“The poor pregnant women were unable to exercise their basic right of family planning and healthy spacing due to high unmet need for family planning,” said Samia Ali Shah, Project Director Population Council, while presenting the Population Council’s report.
The report highlights that high population growth is a major contributor to high levels of vulnerability during climate change events as pregnant women were deprived of perinatal care and children under five years’ of age required immunisation and nutrition care in affected districts.
Rapid population growth worsens the impact of climate change in Pakistan, strains its national resources and exposes more people to climate related risks.
The high fertility levels and rapid population growth hinder reduction of poverty and human development, slow down provision of basic services like health and education and puts pressure on natural resources. Therefore, the population coalition called upon the government to prioritise family planning in climate resilience and rehabilitation strategies.
The participants discussed family planning as a cost-effective approach to climate change resilience and adaptation. They discussed how family planning is critical for achievement of both development and climate change goals and offers a unique solution among medical interventions to reduce poverty, maternal and child mortality, increase in primary schooling, and women’s education and empowerment. It also mitigates the effect of climate change through population stabilization and increases environmental sustainability.
Civil society and media representatives called on the government to enhance budgetary allocations for health and family planning particularly in post floods recovery and resilience programmes. They also advocated for increased investments in female education and skilled labour force to maximise demographic dividend and ensure Family Planning is part of national policies and climate change resilience and disaster management strategies. They also stressed the need for effective leadership to ensure that population and its linkage with climate change is integrated into social safety net programmes and reiterated that the government must integrate health and population welfare services to widen access to family planning services.
The population coalition members from civil society organisations (CSOs) and media highlighted steps to improve women health and build health system resilience at the community level through Lady Health Workers and Community Midwives.
Ali Mir, Senior Director Programs, Population Council said, “the CSOs and media have an important role to play in influencing governments to include family planning and population management in disaster management and climate resilience strategies.” He also urged the participants to contribute to implementation of Council of Common Interests (CCI) national action plan that lays out a clear roadmap to achieve sustainable population growth in the country.
