Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has decided to establish a National Population Council for policy-making on population issues at the national level, with the premier himself set to head the body.
According to details surfaced on Thursday, the council will include the chief ministers of all four provinces, the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) prime minister and the Gilgit-Baltistan chief minister.
The prime minister had also directed authorities to formulate an effective and coordinated national strategy to address the country’s rising population.
Chairing a meeting in Islamabad on the growing population crisis, PM Shehbaz has said that the rapid increase in population was placing pressure on national resources and remained a major challenge to development.
He said balance between resources and population was essential for sustainable development and added that the government was making every effort to control the pace of population growth through balanced development.
The prime minister directed officials to adopt a “whole-of-government approach” for better population management and ordered the inclusion of religious scholars and community leaders in public awareness campaigns.
The meeting was briefed on measures relating to population control and public welfare. Officials informed participants that the country’s population growth rate had reached 2.55 per cent, terming it as a serious challenge.
The briefing stated that provision of family planning facilities at all health centres would assist in controlling population growth, while linking social protection programmes with family planning would also support the effort.
Participants were informed that women’s economic empowerment played an important role in population control and that awareness campaigns on family planning were already under way.
Federal Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Ahad Khan Cheema, Federal Minister for Climate Change Musadik Malik, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar, Federal Minister for National Health Mustafa Kamal and Minister of State for National Health Mukhtar Ahmad Bharath attended the meeting along with senior government officials.
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