The document summarizes Pakistan's population policies and programs from the 1950s to present. It provides an overview of Pakistan's population challenges and outlines the objectives and key strategies of Pakistan's national population policies implemented in 2002 and proposed in 2010. The policies aimed to reduce population growth rates and achieve replacement level fertility through improving access to family planning services, advocacy campaigns, and mainstreaming population issues into national development planning. The document discusses the various population programs, policies, and strategies Pakistan has implemented over the decades to address its high population growth rates.

1. POPULATION POLICIES AND
PROGRAMME IN PAKISTAN
Shazia Kausar
Lecturer
Government College Women University, Faisalabad
shaziakausar@gcwuf.edu.pk

2. INTRODUCTION
Pakistan currently is the 6th most populous country in the world with out of the
highest rate in Asia and among developing countries. High fertility is the major
contributor to the growth rate as mortality rates have been low since last three
decades. Employment opportunities have been unable to keep pace with labour
force growth in recent years. Natural resources and the environment are suffering
from overuse and the degradation respectively. The government of Pakistan
recognizes the serious implications of high fertility and population growth and is
seeking to accelerate the pace of fertility decline, lower current rates of population
growth, reduce infant, child and material mortality.

3. OBJECTIVES
After having studied the unit, the students are desired to be able to:
1. Describe government efforts on the population problem of Pakistan
2. Analyze elements of Population policy
3. Describe the strategies suggested in the policy
4. Identify areas of focus in population policy
5. Highlight the importance of interaction between public and private sector in
the area of population planning.

4. POPULATION POLICIES/ PROGRAMS/PLAN
Foreseeing the long terms consequence of high Population Growth Rate, the
Family Planning Association of Pakistan. an NGO. initiated efforts to contain
population growth in the year 1952.
Three years later. the government began to fund the association and noted the
need to reduce population growth in its First Five Year Plan (1955-60). The
government soon combined its population planning efforts in hospitals and clinics
into a single program.

5. CONTINUE…
In the mid-1960s. the Ministry of Health initiated a program. Through this program
the government was able to attract funding from many international donors, but
the program lost support because the targets were overly ambitious. The
population planning program was suspended and substantively reorganized after
the fall of Muhammad Ayub Khan's government in 1969.
In 1980 the Population Division, formerly under the direction of Minister of State.
was renamed as Population Welfare Division and transferred to the Ministry of
Planning and Economic Development. This agency was charged with the delivery
of both family planning services and maternal and child health cares.

6. CONTINUE…
Population Education Program in the formal education was introduced in the year,
1983. Focus of this program was on the revision and development of curriculum
and materials for secondary schools. The second phase (1986-88) and third phase
(1993-98) were focused on the extension of the first phase.
In the year, 2002, the government came with first ever population policy. This
policy is now being reviewed and the final draft of the revised Population Policy is
available.

7. POPULATION POLICY 2002/PROGRAMME
REVIEW AND ANALYSIS
As per Population Policy 2002, Ministry of Population Welfare committed itself to
bring fertility transition to replacement level fertility of 2.1 births by 2020. This
was an ambitious and tough challenge for Pakistan.
The huge unmet need for family planning services. high level of unwanted
pregnancies and large number of induced abortions reflect the situation. Although
family planning service delivery points have increased and the price of
contraceptives have remained unchanged over the last few years, access to
service remains a problem area.

8. CONTINUE…
The Programme has for the last many years focused on promoting small family
forms through awareness and motivational campaigns. This strategy has been
partially successful raising the level of awareness about population issues, but it
has not been able to bring about the desired change in attitudes and behavior. The
programme was de-federalized in 2002 with the financial. administrative and
operational authority transferred to the Provincial Population Welfare
Depanments PWDs).

9. REVITALIZING THE IMPERATIVE
A- Population and Development
Rapid urbanization, technological advancement, increasing female literacy and
better job prospects for women, proliferation of information through the media,
and competitive market forces have set in the process of transformation in social
values and lifestyles. With additional burden being put on educational and
employment opportunities for the youth, resulting an increase of youth entering
the labour force. The increase in population density, mushrooming urban slums,
rapid depletion of water resources, deforestation and loss of arable land due to
urban development are some of the manifestations of rapid population growth

10. CONTINUE…
Reduction in poverty has been an essential part of all economic policies, yet over
one third of country’s population continues to live below the poverty line with the
number rising. The increase in poverty has a close relation to high fertility,
especially among the lower strata of society.

11. B- REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND FAMILY
PLANNING
The Population policy of Pakistan 2002 aimed at accelerating fertility transition to
attain replacement level fertility by 2020 and the Population Perspective Plan
(2002-12) envisioned CPR of 57%. Pakistan currently recognizes, more than ever
before, the need to be consistent with its development and welfare priorities. It
also realizes that this requires strong political support; improvement in literacy
rate, particularly of women and reduction in poverty. On a positive note, a major
shift has been the growing public realization that reproductive health is a broader
concept and family planning.

12. NATIONAL POPULATION POLICY 2002
Though Pakistan was one of the first few courtiers to realize the need for family
planning in 50’s and adopted a population policy as early as 1960, yet it has only
made a marginal dent on fertility due to a number of factors. These include
fluctuating political commitment, frequent changes in structure of the program,
lack of multi-sectoral programme, to narrow a focus on married women as the
main target, limited coverage of the programme and absence of a conductive
environment for fertility reduction such a low status of women, high infant and
child mortality, low educational levels and inadequate investment in social
sectors.

13. CONTINUE…
Keeping in view these factors, Pakistan’s first ever National population policy was
formulated in the year 2002. Based on demographic realities to be effective, the
policy addressed the following objectives:-
• Reduction in rate and incidence of unwanted fertility
• Reduction in demand for large family size
• Greater investment in the youthful population
• Focus of male involvement
It was to achieve stabilization by 2020 through swift completion of demographic
transitions that entails declines both in fertility and mortality rates.

14. GOALS
The Population policy sought to:-
• Attain a balance between resources and population with the broad parameters
of the ICPD paradigm.
• Address various dimensions of the population issue within national laws,
development priorities while remaining within our national, social and cultural
norms.
• Increase awareness of the adverse consequences of rapid population growth
both at the national, provincial, district and community levels.

15. CONTINUE…
• Promote family planning as an entitlement based on informed and voluntary
choice.
• Attain a reduction in fertility through improvement in access and quality of
reproductive health services.

16. OBJECTIVES
Short Term:
Reduce population growth to 1.9% per annum by 2004
Reduce fertility through enhanced voluntary contraception to 4 births per women
by the year 2004.
Long Term:
Reduce population growth rate from 1.9% per annum in 2004 to 1.3% by 2020.
Universal access to safe family planning methods by 2010.
Reduce fertility through enhanced voluntary contraception to 2.1 births per
women

17. STRATEGIES
• Develop and launch support campaigns to address special groups as, policy
makers, opinion leaders, youth and adolescents.
• Increase ownership of population issues by the stakeholders and strengthen
their participation in the processes of service delivery and program design.
• Adopt a shift from target oriented to people-oriented needs and services.
• Coordinate and monitor a broad network of family planning and RH services.
• Expand the role of private sector by making contracepts cheap and reachable.
• Strengthen contribution to population activities by NGOs and media.

18. CONTINUE…
• Decentralize program management and service delivery to districts level.
• Harness support, cooperation and involvement of men in strengthening the
family as the basic unit of society and in small family size decision making.
• Ensure Population and Family Life Education for school and college students.

19. AREAS OF POLICY FOCUS
1- Population Mainstreaming in National Planning and Development Program
Population mainstreaming entails incorporation of the population factor in
development plans to promote social justice and address poverty through socio-
economic development in the context of migration, urbanization, environment and
sustainable growth. This Policy is developed and coordinated through a multi-
sectoral strategy towards population issues in which there is a synergy between
population dynamics, economic revival and poverty alleviation programmes. The
connectivity of population with poverty, status of women and sustainable
development will be established because they are basically related and progress
in any component can catalyze improvements in others.

20. SERVICE DELIVERY EXPANSION AND IMPROVEMENT OF QUALITY
Ensuring quality in a wide range of family planning services will be the major
short-term goal of this policy. In the longer run whilst the public sector will not
relinquish its responsibility as service provider, recognizing the magnitude of the
task it will fully engage the non-governmental and private sector partners to cope
with future needs of service delivery. Contraceptive choice is to be widened by
providing training to service provider in latest techniques. Quality service provision
will be ensured through regular monitoring.

21. SERVICE DELIVERY WILL SPECIFICALLY INCLUDE
• Strengthening Community-Based Services
• Linkages with Institutional Service Delivery System
• Strengthening and upgrading the existing Family Welfare Centers
• Public-Private Partnerships
• Male involvement
• Improve and Ensure Quality of Services

22. ADVOCACY
This Policy addresses those who being illiterate lack knowledge or have inhibitions
to practice family planning. There is need to address prevalent fears and
misconceptions. A change in beliefs and the value system is required to reduce
fertility to replacement levels. This will be done through a carefully designed
program of advocacy and promotional campaign, which addresses all
stakeholders. An Advocacy Campaign will be devised to build sustain adoption of
the small family norm. It will raise awareness about population and development
issues by engaging change agents to communicate the impact of runaway
population.

23. CONTINUE…
• Advocacy programmes will utilize all channels of communication particularly
the media.
• Public Representations
• Policy/Decision Makers
• Opinion leaders
• Men, Youth and Adolescents
• Medical Profession
• Organized Sectors
• Intelligentsia/Influential Groups

24. TRAINING AND CAPACITY BUILDING
The following training programme and human resource development would be key
features of the strategy:
• Family Planning Training: They are equipped not only to provide pre-service and
in-service training to all population welfare training personnel but also on an
organized basis respond to the training needs of nation building departments.
• Human Resource Development (HRD): A HRD plan will be prepared for
programme personnel. Thus has assumed added importance because of the
need for re-training in new skills and management approaches.

25. DECENTRALIZATION AND COORDINATION
The program which to date has been federal will be distribute with administrative,
financial and programme transfers to the provinces. It will further distribute the
program to the District level in line with governments devolution plan.
The population is a crosscutting issue, which cannot be addressed in isolation and
warrants an existing organizing mechanism. Coordination is required at all levels
within the government and outside and with all stakeholders.

26. MIS, LOGISTIC MANAGEMENT & MAPPING
A review of Management Information System (MIS) based on a District monitoring
of socio-economic demographic indicators and incorporates quantitative and
qualitative data on programme result based performance.
Since the policy envisages active involvement of all public and private sector
agencies in the dispensation of Reproductive health services. This required a
strong and established Logistic Management Information System (LMIS).
A proper Mapping in each District of health, population welfare, NGO & private
sector family planning facilities is visualized this would reduce duplication of
resources, increase coverage especially of un-served and under-served regions by
relocating facilities.

27. RESEARCH IN POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT &
FUNDING
Strong research areas, which include family planning, fertility, mortality,
evaluation for the population programme components etc. The mandate also
makes the institute responsible for imparting training in the field of population
and development.
A total of Rs.49.5 billion requirements are estimated for the next 19 years for
achieving the fertility replacement perceived under the Population Policy by the
year 2020. Major part of the financial inputs will cover the provision of subsidized
contraceptives to the clients, service delivery, training, advocacy and research and
to cover human resource and infrastructure gaps essential for achieving goals.

28. PROPOSED PAKISTAN POPULATION POLICY
2010
The Policy 2010 places the ‘population factor’ at the centre stage of national
development planning. It recognizes reproductive health as a critical component
of sustainable socioeconomic development having string linkages with the
government’s poverty reduction strategies. The Policy 2010 repositions family
planning as a health initiative, with a focus on maternal health and child survival,
by making family planning services a vital component of the essential services
package. Within this holistic perspective and in the wake of emerging
demographic realities, the Policy 2010 re-emphasizes timely completion of
fertility transition for stabilizing the population and reaping the demographic
dividend.

29. STRATEGIES
• Mainstreaming Population in Development Planning
• Advocacy and Demand Generation
• Enhancing Access to and Improving Quality of FP/RH Services
• Contraceptive Commodity Security
• Training and Human Resource Development
• Research and Evaluation
• Public-Private Partnership
• Monitoring

30. IMPLEMENTATION PLAN
In the wake of recent constitutional amendment (18th amendment), though the
population welfare program would be transferred to the provincial governments,
policy making and its execution, in view to ensure continuity and consistency of
national development priority, would continue at the federal level through an apex
body. In addition, necessary mechanisms and institutional arrangements would be
put in place to seek the support of elected representatives and local leaders,
opinion makers, religious scholars and organized communities for efficient and
effective implementation of the Policy 2010.

31. LEGAL FRAMEWORK
In 2001, after an extensive review, the Population Welfare Programme was
defederalized through an ordinance ‘Population Welfare Programme (2001), the
funding however, was to continue through Federal PSDP up to 2003; thereafter
the funding was to provided through N.F.C. award. The administrative and financial
control over the service delivery infrastructure was transferred to the Provincial
Population Welfare Departments along with the staff, equipment and funds.

32. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
The Policy 2010, therefore, encompasses not only national development priorities
but also international obligations. The MoPW envisages expanding the scope of its
activities in accordance with the recommendations of the ICPD. Precisely against
this backdrop, the Policy 2010 focuses on developing bi-lateral relations,
especially with other Muslim and South Asian countries, and forging linkages with
international development agencies, particularly for sharing best practices and
seeking technical support. The Policy 2010 seeks enhanced financial and
technical cooperation from the international community, anticipating that it would
understand and appreciate the population and reproductive health situation of
Pakistan and its implications within and beyond boundaries.