Ammarah Shaikh

Sindh, the second largest province of Pakistan, which plays important role in country’s economy, is experiencing rapid population growth. The population of Sindh may exceed 60 million as the results of first ever digital census carried out this year (Although disputed) are yet to come, but according to 2017 census the total population of Sindh was 48.9 million.

Various government and non- government organizations are working in Sindh to reduce population growth and increasing access to family planning services, but the uniqueness of Sindh population is particularly reflected in its highest urban composition.

Rapid population growth and urbanization in Sindh will increase pressure on, health, education, economic, and agriculture sectors making it difficult to meet the population’s demand for basic needs. The demographic and health surveys show that fertility level has declined in urban areas but remain high in rural areas of Sindh. At the district level, most of the rural districts in Sindh show high level of population who are low on human development index.

The population welfare agencies have made heavy investment in establishing reproductive health services centers all across the province. However the increasing population of the province, growing squatter settlement, depletion of water resources, energy shortage, deforestation and increasing migration both internal and external are the main hurdles. Social and cultural pressures encourage large families and becoming barriers for family planning. Son preference remains strong and influence the reproductive behavior especially in rural areas where the health status of women continues at risk. Early marriages of girls remain a persistent practice even though average age of marriage of girls is 20 under the law in Sindh.

According to World Health Organization (WHO) access to high quality, affordable sexual and reproductive health services and information, including a full range of contraceptive methods, is fundamental to realizing the rights and well-being of woman and girls, men and boys.

As an anthropologist when I collected data from some healthcare providers, many health specialists felt that religious faith plays a major role in resistance to the use of contraceptives in Pakistan. Moreover most of healthcare providers told me that children are considered as source of income generation and a commodity.

During my research I observed that fertility is more in rural individuals whose life is not complex whereas fertility is low in industrial society where life is more complex, the pressure of education is more and the brains are overtaxing .Children are an asset to the society and parents. Child is considered as earning member even at the age of 5 when he becomes a helping hand to his parents in domestic affairs. More children in a family are also regarded as an insurance against old age by the parents.

Furthermore, the lack of support from in-laws is not only important for women but also for men. For using contraceptive methods strongly depends on both husband and mother-in-laws. Women have no decision-making power to decide on their own reproduction. Women are not allowed to consult or get information about contraceptive methods without their husbands’ approval.

Majority of women, are affected by different types of side effects. Like excessive bleeding or disturbance of menstrual cycle, hair growing on face, mental health disturbance, high blood pressure and hypertension

Additionally, I observed that many lower class women feel fear of their husbands or elders and that is why they are not using contraceptive methods and because it is not allowed in their family. Shyness between the couples also creates confusion when they do not want another child.

During the field trips, it was observed that majority of women, are affected by different types of side effects. Like excessive bleeding or disturbance of menstrual cycle, hair growing on face, mental health disturbance, high blood pressure and hypertension. When asked about this issue from healthcare providers, they told that there are many side effects faced by females after using contraceptive methods. “But various other factors are also behind it. Mostly, lower class females are weak and they do not take proper diet. For this reason, they are more affected than upper class females,” they said.

________________

Ammarah Shaikh is Mirpurkhas-based anthropologist, having graduated from the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Sindh, Jamshoro.

The post Women in Sindh have no say in birth control matters first appeared on Sindh Courier.

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.

_____________________

Ammarah Shaikh is Mirpurkhas-based anthropologist, having graduated from the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Sindh, Jamshoro.

The post Pakistan: Economic, Social and Cultural Factors behind Overpopulation first appeared on Sindh Courier.

Raza Muhammad Suhriyani

Considering depopulation as a threat one needs to first see why most of the world came to believe that overpopulation is the problem. The idea is that there are simply too many people in the world. The popular view dates back over 200 years ago, Thomas Malthus (1766-1834) economist and demographer. For Malthus, this fear of overpopulation lead to him detesting the poor, As a result, he proposed various solutions to what he thought was an imminent overpopulation crisis, with nearly all of them involving killing off much of Britain’s poorer population. Malthus even went so far as publicly call for the return of the plague (Pandemic) to achieve his goal. Paul Ehrlich (1932-Present) American biologist, had Many of Malthus’s original thoughts in his book “the population bond “.

In the 1980s, China implemented a one-child policy based on many of the arguments Ehrlich put forward. Even to the present day, there has been a nearly endless stream of claims from individuals, governments, and international organizations like the World Economic Forum arguing that the world is overcrowded.

Analyzing fairly, there was a population boom between 1800 and today. The population went up from 1 billion in 1800 to over 8 billion today. But far from driving humanity to the brink of starvation. The poverty rates have been slashed, in 1800 over 80% of their 1 billion people were living in complete poverty, but today with 07 billion more people, the number is less the 20% poverty worldwide. Virtually every prediction Ehrlich had brought in is completely disproved, in some instances with laughable results. However, the Chinese government went from imposing a one-child policy to finalizing the axing of all population controls in 2021.

In January 2022, Fumio Kishida Prime Minister of Japan. He gave a speech where he warned that Japan’s population is shrinking so fast that the country was “on the cusp of whether it can maintain its societal functions”. It sounds hyperbolic but considering this 2022 marked the lowest recorded number of births in the history of Japan. Major cities like Tokyo continue to grow, and the rest of the country is in rapid decline. Moreover, current projections indicate that Japan is expected to shrink by over 30 million people in less than 3 decades.

When one looks at places where the population has already taken place, one finds shrinking economies, fewer jobs, and declining living standards, compared to places with healthy and stable population growth. The reason is that human beings themselves are immensely valuable resources, not just another mouth to feed. And with fewer people around to work, innovate, create, build, and probably society can and often has gone into stagnation.

_____________

Raza Muhammad Suhriyani hailing from Kandhkot, Sindh, is pursuing his graduation in defense and strategic studies from Quaid-e-Azam University Islamabad.

The post Depopulation is far greater threat than Overpopulation first appeared on Sindh Courier.