Pakistan's Population Program Faces Daunting Challenges(fwd)
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From: "Patricia M. Sears" pmsears@popact.org
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Pakistan's Population Program Faces Daunting Challenges:
Ambitious Agenda Underscores Need for International Support
Washington, D.C.-Poor access to family planning services and other
health-care, along with the abysmally low status of women, is
undermining Pakistan's prospects for economic and social development,
according to a new study by Population Action International.
Nevertheless, recent developments in the country's family planning
program are cause for cautious optimism.
Family planning services reach just a quarter of Pakistan's people,
according to the PAI study,
* Pakistan's Population Program: The Challenge Ahead.
* Only a third of women have access to a trained
health worker in pregnancy and childbirth, and 600 women die for every
100,000 live births. Cultural attitudes that reinforce women's low
social status are further obstacles to their use of family planning
and other health services.
Pakistan's rate of population growth-at 2.9 percent among the highest
in Asia-effectively cut in half the country's 6 percent rate of
economic growth in the 1980s. With 140 million people, Pakistan is
already the world's seventh most populous country. The country will
rank fifth in 2020, when its population is projected to reach 262
million, and third in the world in 2050.
Since the early 1990s, however, successive governments have
demonstrated much greater commitment to the country's family planning
program, reflected in their efforts to significantly increase both
staffing levels and spending, PAI states.
"In the past, Pakistani governments have short-changed the social
investments that women-and their families-need," says Shanti R. Conly,
co-author of the study and PAI's director of policy research. "As a
result, Pakistani women receive less education, less health care and
have even fewer opportunities outside the home than many of their
Asian counterparts. Fortunately, after more than 25 years of
inconsistent action on these issues, we are seeing signs of change."
In 1993, the government launched an ambitious "social action program"
to expand basic services in health, education, family planning and
rural water supply. The World Bank and other donors are financing a
quarter of the cost of this $7.7 billion, five-year plan.
On the family planning front, efforts are focused on introducing
contraceptive services in all government-run health facilities and on
expanding networks of health and family planning outreach workers in
rural communities. The plan calls for more than a doubling of spending
on family planning, from $40 million in 1994 to $100 million by 1998.
The third in PAI's country study series, Pakistan's Population Program
highlights the challenges Pakistan faces, recommends steps towards
meeting those challenges, and suggests ways in which the international
community can support the country's efforts to expand access to family
planning and related health care. PAI's earlier country studies
critiqued the family planning programs of China and India.
"Pakistan's prospects for economic and political stability depend on
its success in addressing its development challenges, including
population," says Ms. Conly. "Currently, the United States is doing
little through its foreign aid program to reinforce positive trends in
Pakistan, despite American interest in the peace and stability of
South Asia."
The United States halted economic aid to Pakistan following a dispute
over nuclear policy. The United Kingdom, Germany and the United
Nations Population Fund are now the principal donors of grant aid to
Pakistan's family planning program.
"The United States' decision to cut off aid to Pakistan in 1993
couldn't have come at a worse time for the family planning program,"
says Ms. Conly. "The U.S. pull-out did great damage to NGO programs
and to subsidized condom sales. And it has made it more difficult for
the Pakistan program to access U.S. technical expertise, at a time
when Pakistan would welcome such help."
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"Pakistan's Population Program: The Challenge Ahead" is available for
purchase from: Population Action International; 1120 19th Street,
NW/Washington, DC 20036 Telephone: 202/659-1833
EMAIL : pmsears@popact.org
Population Action International seeks to increase political and
financial support for effective population policies and programs
grounded in individual rights. PAI advocates the expansion of
voluntary family planning and related health services, of education
for girls, and of economic opportunities for women. These are
important goals in their own right and, through their profound
influence on family size, offer the greatest promise for early
population stabilization.
PAI is a private, nonprofit organization founded in 1965 which
receives no government support and is funded entirely by contributions
from individuals and foundations.
Patricia M. Sears
Deputy Director, Media Relations
Population Action International
Washington, DC
202-659-1833 Ext. 131
202/293-1795 (fax)
301-587-8671 (home)
Contact: Sally Ethelston
202-659-1833 Ext. 133
202-387-6925 (home)
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