“Irrational growth of population has a direct effect on economic development and standard of living of the people”. It was stated by Prof. Dr. Mohammad Hafizullah Vice Chancellor Khyber Medical University (KMU), Peshawar in his inaugural speech as chief guest in a two-day orientation workshop organized by KMU in collaboration with USAID funded FALAH project to introduce the “Basic Minimum Family Planning Content” Package to the faculty of Khyber Medical University. Registrar KMU Dr. Fazal Mahmood, Dir. AA&QA KMU Prof. Dr. Shad Muhammad, Controller of Examination KMU Prof. Dr. Shahnaz Akhtar, DG Population Welfare Department KP Mr. Noor Nawaz Khan and notables from the field of reproductive health were also present at the occasion.
Prof. Hafizullah said the other causes for the growth of population in Pakistan are poverty, lack of education, early marriages, particularly among the rural population and general attitude of the people towards family.
He said the workshop would acquaint the faculty with concepts urgently required to reverse Pakistan’s reproductive health indicators, which are, unfortunately, amongst the poorest in the region. Maternal and infant mortality remains high with neonatal mortality showing a resilience to change over the years. Keeping this unmet need in mind, Prof. Mohammad Hafizullah stressed the need for medical providers to play a major role in lowering this by proactively providing information and birth-spacing services to their clients, and for providers to understand and appreciate the linkage between birth spacing and health outcomes.
He further said that as a result of these training programs, the quality of care within public sector facilities will improve, leading to greater client satisfaction and concomitant increase in service utilization. In the end VC KMU thanked FALAH, JHPIEGO and the participants for bringing their expertise to this important forum.
While talking to the workshop as chief guest in the concluding session, Prof. Dr. Shad Muhammad, Dir. AA&QA KMU hoped that the workshop would help in improving the health and well being of women, men and their children through an increase in the adoption of birth spacing behaviors. This will be achieved through removing barriers, improving understanding of the value of birth spacing for maternal and child health and family well being, increasing awareness of the risks associated with early, late, closely spaced and high parity pregnancies, and improving access to and quality of care in both the public and private sectors.
He said the communication challenge will be to shift the emphasis from family planning to the concept of “birth spacing” for better health and well being of women, men and their children, thereby increasing its acceptance among all segments of the population. He said every year the population is increasing at an alarming rate. Owing to this, we are facing innumerable challenges in a poverty-stricken country like Pakistan. The increasing population is resulting in problems such as poverty, poor health of women, resource depletion, destruction of natural habitat, and climate change. The workshop concluded with a vote of thanks by Dr. Zubaida Rashid Program Officer Population Council Islamabad and distribution of certificates among the participants
