No country can progress without rationalising its population: AJK president

MUZAFFARABAD: While describing the population welfare as the central plank of the overall development strategy, AJK President Sardar Masood Khan has said no country can make socio-economic progress without rationalising its population.

"At present, the population growth rate of Pakistan is 2.4 percent and that of Azad Jammu and Kashmir is 1.62 percent, and if necessary measures are not taken for population control, we will have to face numerous issues, including hunger and unwanted transfer of population," he warned.

He expressed these views after receiving a report of the Health and Population Welfare Department to improve the state of the family planning and reproductive health in AJK. The report was presented by the consultant of the United Nations Fund for Population (UNFPA) Pakistan, Raja Mohammad Razzaq. The AJK president said the liberated territory has a literacy rate higher than all parts of Pakistan, and there is a slight difference in the literacy of boys and girls. Therefore, we expect that a major portion of our population, having the realisation of population welfare, reproductive health, mortality rate of newborns and their mothers, can easily understand the socio-economic needs of the population planning.

He expressed the hope that the UN Fund for Population and the AJK population welfare department, while keeping in view our family norms and social values, will achieve the targets of population control and will contribute to the poverty alleviation and bringing the economic prosperity of the people in the state.

He said the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) in AJK is 47 per one thousand and MMR 104 per hundred thousand need to be significantly reduced.

"The AJK government is determined to take all necessary measures to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 2030, particularly goal three of the agenda," he vowed. He assured full support and cooperation to the efforts of UNFPA to ensure population welfare through family planning and reproductive healthcare.

Sardar Masood said being a developing region, it was the priority of the AJK government to maintain a balance between its population and resources to ensure public health, education, and economic development, and put the territory on the path of progress and prosperity.

Earlier, explaining the functional integration of Health and Population Welfare Departments, the UNFPA representative, Raja Razzaq, said both the departments have tremendous potential but duplication of the functions, especially in service delivery, makes it difficult to achieve overall goals set for the sector.