ISLAMABAD:A two-day national conference on ‘resilient Pakistan calibrating population and resources’ started on Friday.
The event is being organized by the Population Program Wing of the Ministry of Health Services, Regulations and Coordination in collaboration with the Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan.
The purpose of this conference is to take stock of the achievements, identify the difficulties faced, preempt the emerging challenges, and deliberate upon how best we can address the population and development agenda in Pakistan.
The participants discussed how they can achieve the targets of the National Population Action Plan, Pakistan’s Commitments at the ICPD25 Nairobi Summit, Pakistan’s Commitments for FP2030 and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The conference was attended by the relevant national and provincial political leadership, national and provincial program managers and the implementing partners in the public and private sector, legal fraternity, development partners, diplomats, academia, religious scholars, population champions in civil society, youth leadership, women champions and media, among others.
Addressing the participants, speakers said that the conference provides a forum to advocate population issues as a matter of human rights. They added it creates an opportunity to sensitize the stakeholders on the gravity of the situation and its logical consequence.
They said that previously, out of the three main determinants of rapid population growth, the operational dimension has been emphasized. The focus of the conference is on the social determinants and reforms in the policies of relevant sectors that are linked with the population.
They said that the conference provides a platform for the implementing partners to highlight their achievements and come up with new vigor that could create momentum for accelerated implementation of the action plan. It allows policymakers and planners to collect experts’ opinions to sharpen the national vision of the population and introduce changes in the action plan.
National and provincial political leadership, national and provincial program managers and implementing partners in the public and private sector, and international development partners attended the seminar and committed their best to address Pakistan’s fundamental issue of a rapidly growing population.