Seminar on population control at PMA on Sunday

Pakistan’s runaway population impacts every aspect of its survival, including health, education, nutrition, environment, housing, and mobility.

Pakistan has failed miserably in family planning and population management, and it must accept its responsibility for the burgeoning poverty, illiteracy, homelessness, and malnutrition. The fertility rate in Pakistan should be the primary concern for authorities and must be addressed on an emergency basis, as piecemeal efforts and outdated policies have led us nowhere. The big question is how to get the state and clergy on board.

While most Western civilizations experience population decline, Pakistan is experiencing a significant population trajectory despite limited resources. Pakistan’s fertility rate is 3.18 births per woman, the highest in Southeast Asia, compared to Bangladesh’s 1.9 and India’s and Iran’s 2.0. Based on this rate, Pakistan will have a population of 710 million people in the next 50 years, up from the current 230 million. This issue is a ticking time bomb that erodes our resources, serving as a constant and stifling drain on the national economy, natural resources, social evolution, and our creativity as a people and nation.

Although population management should be a national concern, Pakistan’s rulers have neglected it. Citizens concerned about Pakistan’s unchecked population growth have organized a platform to initiate a dialogue. The “Citizens’ Population Dialogue” and the Pakistan Medical Association have jointly convened a seminar to identify the reasons, impacts, and solutions for the lack of family planning.

Dr Kaiser Bengali, a renowned economist, will discuss the imbalance between Pakistan’s population and economy. Dr Rahat Qureshi, an experienced gynecologist, points out the unmet needs for family planning and emphasizes the necessity for comprehensive reproductive health services throughout Pakistan.

Nikhat Sattar, a professional engineer who has edited and translated scholarly treatises in Islam, advocates for family planning by prohibiting early-age marriage, counseling couples before marriage.

Dr Nighat Shah, head of the gynecology department at the JPMC, expresses the challenges faced by multiparous women and the leadership of Family Planning in academia.