KARACHI: Strategies on how to popularise the concept of birth spacing and the challenges to family planning were discussed in detail at a meeting held on Wednesday at APNS House.

The meeting was organised by the Population Council, a non-governmental organisation working on reproductive health, as part of its efforts to involve journalists in the cause and create awareness of related issues.

A shared concern at the meeting was the country`s poor maternal and child health indicators and the low priority status successive governments had accorded to the subject of health.

Pregnancy-related complications, it was pointed out, claimed the lives of an estimated 14,000 women every year (Sindh 2,800, Balochistan 3,000, Punjab 6,000 and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 1,700) in the country, which could be prevented if women had access to healthcare facilities for safe delivery.

An important factor in improved maternal and child health, it was stated, was spacing in pregnancies and it had been found that there were a significant number of families who had the desire for family planning but, for some reasons, they couldn`t opt for these services.

The data shared with journalists during the meeting showed that Pakistan has a high unmet need for family planning; nearly one in five women of reproductive age in Pakistan wants spacing in pregnancies.

In Balochistan, the unmet need for family planning exceeds 30pc. The unmet need for family planning led to unplanned pregnancies, many of which ended in unsafe abortions and maternal deaths.

Pakistan`s performance on tackling high population grown was also discussed and it was pointed out that the country lagged far behind in contraceptive use as compared to most Muslim countries; contraceptive use was over80pcin Iran, 70pc in Indonesia and 65pc in both Bangladesh and Turkey.

However, in Pakistan it`s hardly 35pc.

It was suggested that experts in Pakistan should explore strategies adopted by these countries to overcome population challenges and see how they could be implemented in the country.

Support of religious scholars, it was recommended, should be sought at the grassroots level to popularise the concept of birth spacing, besides, relevant government departments and officials should be involved in the cause.

Farooq Ahmed representing the NGO gave a presentation on how the media could help in highlighting the population issue.