KARACHl: Caretaker Minister for Population Welfare and Health Saadia Virk Rizvi on Thursday said rapid growth in population was alarming and the country needed to control its swelling population on a war-footing.

`This is a basic problem, which, if controlled, would allow us to focus on the rest of our goals,` said the minister while addressing at a seminar titled `Family planning is a human right` organised by the population welfare department at a hotel.

`Until we are able to get our population growth under check through concrete policies we cannot prosper,` she said.

She added that it was the age of a war across the globe for resources and all developed countries were controlling their populations in accordance with the resources they had.-Staff Reporter