A signing ceremony for implementing the Annual Work Plan 2008 between Ministry of Population and UNFPA was held here on Thursday under which the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) would provide $2.4 million for population welfare programmes.
The UNFPA country representatives Dr France Donnay and Muhammad Sharif, Secretary Population Welfare Ministry signed the Annual Work Plan. This fund will be utilised for implementation of reproductive health and family planning activities in 10 focused districts during 2008 which includes Mansehra, Kohat, Chakwal, Muzaffargarh, Qilla Saifullah, Chaghi, Jacobabad, Thatta, Kotli and Muzaffarabad.
The goal of the UNFPA programme is to improve the reproductive health status of the people leading to population stabilisation and sustainable human development. The activities of the said plan would be jointly implemented by the Population Welfare Ministry, Provincial Population Welfare Departments and UNFPA at federal, provincial and district levels.
The country's population is 161.2 million with the annual growth rate of 1.86 percent and fertility rate of 4.5 percent per woman and if the population growth rate remains the same the country's population will double in 34 years, says the UNFPA report on 'the State of World Population'.
It may be recalled that the activities of the Annual Work Plan-2008 have been jointly identified by the Ministry of Population Welfare and the UNFPA which were discussed in Steering Committee meeting held in the Ministry on February 2 and 9, 2008 under the chairmanship of Secretary, Population Welfare Ministry.
The Steering Committee approved the Annual Work Plan 2008 with the directive that utmost efforts must be made to undertake the envisaged activities and utilise the allocation for achieving improved reproductive health of the target population. Federal Minister for Population Welfare Professor Dr A J Khan was also present at the signing ceremony.
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