Punjab observes World Population Week 2022: Time to take population issue seriously

LAHORE:The swiftly growing population is affecting everything, eating up space and agricultural land. It is right time to take population issue seriously and in this regard, there is great need to reach out to people and educate properly.

Former Punjab Minister for Population Welfare Zakia Shahnawaz expressed these views at an event organised by Population Welfare Department (PWD) Punjab in connection with World Population Week 2022 at a local hotel here on Monday. World Population Week is being observed from July 18-22. Zakia Shahnawaz said people needed to be provided family planning services on an urgent basis. ‘The population crisis is staring at our face and we have to address it. Our authorities should highlight the importance of balanced family at all platforms for a prosperous Pakistan’.

She said agricultural land is fast turning into housing societies. “This will lead to food shortage. We need to take action now. Availability of contraceptives is important and district officers will have to pull up their socks,” she said. “All children need to be in school because they are our future. PWD has the most difficult job at hand,” she said. “Bangladesh has succeeded in controlling population, Turkey has restricted itself to two children, why can’t we?” she asked.

Additional Secretary Population Welfare Department (PWD) Punjab Dr Naila gave a presentation, which showed Pakistan is the 5th most populous country in the world with 221 million population and Punjab has 52.96 percent of the country’s population with 110 million people.

Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey 2017-18 puts total fertility rate at 3.4 and contraceptive prevalence rate at 38.3% in Punjab. If the population keeps growing at the same rate, which is 2.1 percent, the province’s population by 2047 will be as big as Pakistan. She informed that the Population Welfare department provided services in its 129 Family Health Clinics (FHCs) and 2100 Family Welfare Centres (FWCs). There are 15 Men Advisory Centres and 41 Adolescent Counseling Centres.

Outreach facilities of PWD are 117 mobile service units, 1332 social mobilisers and 900 community-based family workers. The Minister and Secretary PWD jointly inaugurated Population Welfare Department’s official YouTube channel “Behbood” which is a dedicated platform for awareness on population welfare. PWD has a strong advocacy campaign with 7.5 lakh following on social media, informed Deputy Director Information, Education and Communication PWD M Akhtar Bhatti. The department gave shield to Dr Afshan Tahir in recognition of her great services for the department. Position holders from Regional Training Institute, PWD were also given certificates. Secretary Population Welfare Department Salman Ijaz, CEO PPIF Talha Hussain Faisal, Programme Technical Specialist UNFPA Shoaib Shehzad, Project Director IEC Akhtar Bhatti, representatives from Primary & Secondary Healthcare Department and officials and officers of Population Welfare Department Punjab were also present in the ceremony.