Addressing social issues necessary for sustainable development, says president

ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi on Monday said that in order to promote sustainable and inclusive socio-economic development, the world needed to address the issues related to population, including poverty, health problems, illiteracy, and violation of human.

The president, in his message on World Population Day annually observed on July 11, said the resolution of population related issues was possible by narrowing the gap between alarming disparities and biases in gender, age, origin, ethnicity, disability, class, and religion.

He said it was delighting that Pakistan and member countries of the United Nations were commemorating World Population Day, an annual event since 1989, to highlight the significance of population-related matters and issues.

The president said the theme of this year’s World Population Day “A world of 8 billion: Towards a resilient future for all - Harnessing opportunities and ensuring rights and choices for all” was pertinent as in November 2022, the world population would reach the 8 billion mark.

“We need to work together very closely to achieve agenda 2030 by anticipating and understanding the way our population is changing. This is possible if we develop unique responses based on data to mitigate potentially negative effects to fully harness the opportunities that also come with demographic change,” the president remarked.

The Council of Common Interests has approved a set of eight recommendations and the National Action Plan (NAP) in consultation with the provincial and regional governments to address the matters related to population in the country inclusively.

“Our data suggests that almost half of the pregnancies in the country are unwanted due to the lack of access to contraceptives. The country is focusing on this issue and will be able to drastically curtail our increasing population in the short term, until demographic transition as seen throughout the world takes over,” the president commented.