Rapid population growth puts pressure on resource base in Sindh, says CM – Pakistan



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KARACHI: Syed Murad Ali Shah, prime minister of Sindh, said that the province was facing the double problem of increasing birth rate and migration to the interior of the country and in the country. other countries, which posed a serious problem to the reduction of available resources, to the creation of jobs, to the management of food products. and housing, health and educational institutions, on the other.

He added that, given our limited resources and population growth, it was of utmost importance to balance the size of the population with the resource base.

The chief minister said that while chairing a meeting of the working group on the people of Sindh at the seat of the Chamber of Deputies on Thursday. He added that the working group, which follows a decision by the Supreme Court's Council of Common Interests and Suo Motu, is composed of prominent citizens and highly experienced public sector professionals and development partners.

The Minister of Health, Dr. Azra Pechuho, the Minister of Education, Syed Sardar Shah, the Secretary General, Mumtaz Shah, the Principal Secretary of CM Sajid Jamal Abro, the Provincial Secretaries, the Head of the Working Group on Sind, Dr. Talib Lashari, representatives of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, USAID and Aga Khan Hospital.

Referring to the achievements of the task force, the Senior Minister stated that he hoped that the working group would continue to build on these achievements and provide timely guidance and practical approaches.

Talib Lashari, who made a presentation at the meeting, said that Pakistan's population growth rate in Asian countries was at the peak. However, he added, the working group chaired by the Minister of Health had made major decisions such as the functional integration of the health and population departments; sharing of tasks of health workers and health visitors and distribution of free contraceptives to relevant non-governmental organizations and appropriate health facilities for post-pregnancy family planning.

It was also pointed out that the Sindh population rate was 2.4% per year and that the decline in fertility was too slow; it was recorded at 3.8 in 2012-13 and 3.6 in 2017-2018, while the fertility rate was 3.4 in Punjab; in KP and Baluchistan there were four.

The meeting decided to take effective measures to reach 45% of the prevalence rate of contraception, which is currently 35%.

The chief minister said that, in addition to the regular budget allocated to family planning programs, the provincial government was financing the costed implementation plan at a cost of 2.15 billion rupees, which could be increased case of need.

Polio business

The chief minister said that Sindh reported a case of polio in Karachi in 2018, a historic record for the province. No cases have been reported this year, but Karachi's six districts are still clbadified as high-risk districts. that "we must take strict measures to reduce the threat to zero".

He said that polio vaccination was mandatory in all public and private schools and added that schools that refused immunity against polio would be subject to strict measures.

When the meeting was informed that 17,500 children out of 7.3 million had been forgotten (refused and absent at home), the chief minister expressed his dissatisfaction, saying that even if it was not a big deal we could not tolerate that refusal.

He asked the Secretary General to take drastic measures so that no family could refuse to immunize his children. "It's a jihad to save our future generations and our people and even schools have refused to vaccinate their children," he said.

Posted in Dawn, on February 8, 2019

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