President Alvi calls for population control

Islamabad: President Dr Arif Alvi on Wednesday said no country could progress if its population outgrows its resources.

He said the government was committed to containing the population explosion for which all segments of the society would be engaged. He was talking to Country Director, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Lina Mahmoud Mousa, who called on him at the Aiwan-e-Sadr.

The president said he had directed the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) to fully utilise the pulpit to create awareness among masses about vital social issues like women inheritance, malnutrition, and stunted growth.

"Lack of gap between pregnancies is one of the major causes of malnutrition and stunting. The government is focusing on providing home-based software-driven jobs to skilled women, who could not go out of homes because of child-raising," he said.

Dr Alvi said that Pakistan would learn from and implement the strategies of the countries, which had succeeded in controlling population growth. Expressing satisfaction that Pakistan and UNFPA had successfully implemented eight Country Programmes, he hoped that the current Country Programme (2018-2022) would contribute towards better family planning, increased women's empowerment, better health outcomes and investments in young people.

The president underlined that Pakistan had a very fond association with the UNFPA and the first female to head UNFPA was a renowned Pakistani, Dr. Nafis Sadik. He also appreciated UNFPA's support and technical assistance to Pakistan in conducting the recent census.

Ms. Lisa appreciated the in-depth knowledge of the President on the issue and said that they would certainly benefit from the president's strategic vision. She agreed with him that while devising a strategy to control population growth, local values and traditions must be taken into consideration, or else desired results could not be achieved.

The President conveyed his gratitude to Under-Secretary-General, UNFPA, Dr. Natalia Kanem, for extending an invitation to all Heads of State and Government to Nairobi Summit on ICPD 25 and hoped for its success.