The overpopulation could not be characterized by birth rate only, as another cause of rising population in Pakistan is the illegal immigrants
Ammarah Shaikh
Increasing population is one of the biggest problem of the world. There are some social and cultural factors of increasing population. It causes health issues at broad level like health problems of females as well as child. Reproductive health is argued to be a basic human right but in our society, males are important actors who make decisions for reproduction. Males influence the women and children directly and indirectly both positively and negatively.
South Asian countries such as Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Afghanistan had a comparatively higher population growth rate during the 30 years because of the overall backward economy and strong religious tradition. That is why the high population growth in South Asia has slowed down economic growth. It impacts the educational system and increasing unemployment plus poverty. In addition, rapid growth of population has intensified the pressure on the food supply and health facilities to the public.
Pakistan is sixth most populous country in the world. Pakistan had launched family planning (FP) programs in 1953 with some help from international donors such as United Nations Fund for Population. The programs of family planning are unsuccessful in Pakistan because the ideology of family planning is considered against the religion. Many public health specialists feel that the religion play a major role to resist the use of FP in Pakistan.
Lack of awareness and social factors have also contributed to the failure of FP drive. As a student of anthropology, when I conducted interviews of some families in district Mirpurkhas, they told me that they are against family planning and do not practice contraceptive methods because they wanted more children. I observed that social pressure to bear more children is a barrier to family planning because in our society parents with more children are seen with more respect. According to some families, if they have more children, they will prove helpful in the future and will bring honor to the family name. Several male and female respondents of this research said that family planning program is a planning of our government to prevent fertility. “If we adopted or used family planning methods, it would be dangerous for us as we will become infertile,” they had said.
Rahnuma Family Planning Association of Pakistan is one of the largest and oldest right-based civil society organization in Pakistan providing reproductive health and contraceptive core but still it is unsuccessful to achieve their goals. Currently Pakistan’s government is facing the trouble because of increasing population.
One of the poorest countries in the world, Pakistan has the highest population growth rate in the world which is about 3.0 annually
According to my opinion the overpopulation could not be characterized by birth and death rate, as another cause of rising population in Pakistan is the illegal immigrants who come from different countries for various purposes and becoming the citizen of Pakistan like the refugees from Afghanistan and other countries.
One of the poorest countries in the world, Pakistan has the highest population growth rate in the world which is about 3.0 annually. According to certain studies, the average woman in Pakistan has given birth to more than 5 children.
There are several government and non-government organizations working in Pakistan to control overpopulation. But the FP programs is facing cultural and religious challenges so these programs are still unsuccessful. There is a need to improve the population planning efforts and reduce the fertility rate in order to cut down population pressures on the country’s physical and capital resources.
Pakistan family planning program is administrated by two government ministries – the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Ministry of Population (MOP). The FP programs allow individuals to decide if and when to have children. It includes information and services related to contraceptives who are ready to have children. The organization of FP programs does not recognize abortion.
According to Pakistan demographic health survey, 39% women do not participate in FP decisions. Therefore, knowledge and access to contraceptive methods of FP can improve the reproductive health of woman. Family planning programs generally focused on women and men, considered the silent partner in FP services. The involvement in FP is particularly more important in lower income countries where most women have limited control over their lives; they completely depend on their husbands for decisions regarding their health.
Son preference remains strong and influence reproductive behavior especially in rural areas putting the health status of women at risk. Early marriages of girls remain a persistent practice even though average age of marriage of girls has reached 20 in Sindh.
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Ammarah Shaikh is Mirpurkhas-based anthropologist, having graduated from the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Sindh, Jamshoro.
The way you explain a complex topic in an easy-to-understand way is really impressive You presented your ideas and thoughts really well on the paper.