President underlines need for attitudinal change towards family planning

ISLAMABAD: President Dr. Arif Alvi on Monday called for a shift in social attitudes toward family planning  in order to advance reproductive health and efficiently control Pakistan’s population growth. Family planning, according to him, is the most effective intervention to slow the population growth that is placing a severe strain on the nation’s resources. According to a press release from the President Secretariat Press Wing, the president made these comments to Dr. Luay Shabaneh, the UNFPA’s country representative, who visited him at Aiwan-e-Sadr.

The president aserted that by supporting national family planning initiatives, opinion leaders, media outlets, and religious scholars could contribute to positive behavioral changes in society. He claimed that in order to educate the populace about family planning, it was necessary for national religious scholars and the media. He emphasized the need for all parties involved to work together to advance family planning and better family health as fundamental rights of married couples. Out of 9 million pregnancies in Pakistan, 50% were unwanted, according to the president, who emphasized that this was because the country’s population lacked access to family planning services and products.