World Population Day: Message from Dr. Azra Fazal Pechuho, Minister for Health & Population Welfare, Sindh

TEXT: The theme set this year for World Population Day 2023 highlights the need to advance gender equality to help realize the dreams of 8 billion. Gender inequality can be reduced by heeding and protecting the voices and rights of women and girls.

The legislation, rules and policies in this context will help improve the participation of half of the worlds population in decision making - not only regarding their health, reproductive lives and family size but it will also safeguard women and children from violence, harmful practices and preventable maternal death.

Government of Sindh has enacted five historic laws in the last one decade: The Sindh Child Marriages Restraint Act, 2013, Sindh Rights of the Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2013, The Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Act, 2013, Sindh Women Agricultural Workers' Act 2019 and Reproductive Health Rights Act, 2019 (Amended 2022).

These laws fortify the rights of women and girls and are instrumental in upholding gender equality. The FP-2030 and SDG-2030 Goals can only be achieved if women and girls’ voice and rights are uplifted. Sindh pursues FP-2030’s targets to bring CPR to 477o by 2025 and 577o by 2030.

Sindh envisions to reshape the lives of women, men, girls, youth and adolescent from villages to cities and from remotest rural terrain to peri-urban and urban settings through rights-based approach for women empowerment, access to high quality modern contraceptives, relevant legislation, life skills, health and hygiene for the young and adolescents with interventions within health, population, education and social sectors.

Thus, creating an enabling environment, so as to ensure the transformation of social and gender norms - hallmark of a progressive society. With an aim to broaden the focus, the Population Welfare Department Sindh has established a FP2030 Working Group andre-revised the Costed Implementation Plan (CIP), strengthened the Supply Chain System, maintained Contraceptive Commodity Security, holistically engaged private partners, shifted paper-based client data to electronic client recording and last but not least; shifted focus from rural to urban areas where CPR is reported to be low in PDHs 2017.

'Sindh FP2030 Working Group’ and 'Sindh Population Task force’ meetings are attended by representatives of public and private sector stakeholders to discuss population issues for tangible results. Both departments, Health and Population, under one Minister are fostering functional integration.

The Gynae Wards of Tertiary Care Hospitals are providing PPFP (Post Pregnancy Family Planning) and PAFP (Post Abortive Family Planning) with the support of the Population Welfare Department. These services will help in improving the health and overall well-being of women.

This World Population Day gives us an opportunity to demonstrate our unwavering commitment to create a safe and healthy environment, where women and girls are empowered to choose if and when to build the families they want and where they have easy and affordable access to Family Planning and Reproductive Health Services.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023