PPD :: Speeches 2009

National South-South Support Structure Workshop
13 April 2009, Islamabad, Pakistan

Honorable Dr. Firdus Ashiq Awan, Minister of Population Welfare, Government of Pakistan

Mr. Nayyar Agha, Secretary, Ministry of Population Welfare, Government of Pakistan

I am pleased to welcome you to this National South-South Support Structure Workshop jointly organized by the Ministry of Population Welfare-Government of Pakistan and PPD.

I would like in the first instance to express my gratitude and thanks to the Government of the Pakistan, and the Honorable Minister of Population Welfare Dr. Firdus Ashiq Awan for the support and assistance extended to us for the organization of this workshop, and also for her presence among us this morning in spite of her busy schedule. I welcome the presence of Mr. Daniel B. Baker, Country Representative, UNFPA and thank him and UNFPA for the technical and financial support provided to PPD for organizing different events both in Pakistan and elsewhere. PPD and UNFPA are sister organizations and as such we enjoy a very privileged relationship. The UNFPA office in Pakistan has always been very supportive to PPD and has sponsored our Board Member and senior officials from the Government of Pakistan to our governance meetings and related events for years. This year our Board meeting will be held on 19th October in Beijing, China and will also coincide with the “5th Asia Pacific Conference on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights”, for which we will once again seek assistance from UNFPA country office. Mr. Baker, thank you once again for your unrelenting support to us.

Honorable Minister, I wish to pay tribute to your vision and foresightedness in guiding not only the Ministry of Population Welfare but also to your endeavor to make Pakistan as a valuable and active member of PPD.

Your Excellency, ladies and gentlemen, PPD is an intergovernmental organization established within the framework of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo in Egypt in 1994. This alliance provides the mechanism to promote partnership and cooperation between developing countries, towards achieving the ICPD goals and also the Millennium Development Goals. The Secretariat is based in Bangladesh; we have a Regional Office for Africa in Kampala, Uganda, a Program Office in China and another office in New York, USA, where we are also a Permanent Observer to the United Nations. This year is also a great year for PPD which is celebrating along with ICPD its 15th anniversary.

Fifteen Years after ICPD, we cannot but rejoice at the tremendous achievements registered in the area of Reproductive Health, Population and Development. The quality of life in general has improved substantially in the world. We can proudly say that the Cairo Agenda has not remained a blueprint. It has ushered important changes in many parts of the world and ICPD must indeed be applauded for having been the turning point that has reshaped policies and program addressing Women’s Reproductive Health, Adolescent Sexual Health and many other culturally sensitive issues. We note with satisfaction that for the last 15 years the broad concept of reproductive health which was adopted at Cairo has been incorporated in increasing number of government policies. Though Reproductive Health was not included into MDGs in 2000, we are glad that it has been added as an additional target in the Millennium + 5 document adopted in 2005.

15 years after the ICPD, some governments have made major advances. In the developing world, progress is especially notable in terms of narrowing the gender gap, with more women in power than ever before, more girls in school, more women using modern methods of contraceptives.

Honorable Minister, ladies and gentlemen - we are going through a very difficult period and the ICPD goals, just as the Millennium Development Goals, are far from being achieved. Donor countries have shied away from their commitment to Official Development Assistance (ODA). The funding for the RH programs has fallen by 60% during the last ten years. There are many challenges we need to face for our better living. The growing population of the world is emerging once again as a threat especially in the developing world. Current global economic and food crisis further jeopardize the world socio-economic progress. As the global economic crisis deepens, hunger and malnutrition are likely to increase. Reduced incomes and higher unemployment will greatly impact on the purchasing power of the poor diminishes. Population of the world has increased by 114% from 1960 to 2005 and is projected to increase over 9 billion in 2050. About half of the world’s population could face food shortages by 2100 due to slash of crop yields from 20% to 40%, if the global leaders do not actively work to adapt to rising temperatures.

Countries in South Asia have recently achieved positive economic growth, promoted social development indicators that are higher than the global average, and this is welcomed! We learn with appreciation that the Government of Pakistan is fully committed to achieve the ICPD goals with boarder milieu of MDGs. Today the rate of economic growth in Pakistan is 6.2% annually.

We are glad to learn that Pakistan is on track to achieve goals related to universal primary education, promote gender equity and empower women (women’s representation in local bodies, national assemblies and the senate has been increased), improve maternal health and infant mortality. It is appreciating that 96% of the currently married women in the country are aware of Family planning method. The government is effectively addressing the problems of TB, Malaria, HIV/AIDS and the incidence of polio.

The Pakistan has wide expertise and world renowned professionals in reproductive health and other areas related to health. It has experience of the Village-Based Family Planning Worker (VBFPW) program which initiated in 1992, first on a pilot basis and later at the national level. To date 70,000 workers are practicing in villages, with a grassroots approach that provide better RH information and services to millions of Pakistani men and women. It had the innovated Lady Health Workers Program (LHWs) in 1994 to provide basic health care services to women on their doorstep thereby bridging the gap between the community and institutionalized services. The government recruited over 96, 000 LHWs to provide RH services. Recently the Government of Pakistan launched its National Maternal and Child Health Program to boost the RH services.

However, Pakistan in many areas remains seriously off track to achieve ICPD goals and MDGs agenda. For example, Pakistan was among the vanguard countries in Asia in starting Family Planning program more than 5 decades ago is now suffering from high population explosion. Fertility has declined more slowly in Pakistan than in most other Asian countries. Pakistan had a population of 37 million and was the 13th largest country in the world in 1950 which increased to 164 million in 2007 and became the 6th largest country in the world. The growth of population is nearly five times higher than in the past 58 years. Pakistan is expected to move to fifth place in 2050 with 292 million people after India, China, the United States, and Indonesia.

Researches state that Pakistan is today suffering from a slow moving Family Planning program. Seventy percent (70%) of men and women in the Reproductive Age in Pakistan do not use any Family Planning method. Pakistan’s fertility rate has remained persistently high over the past decade. The total fertility rate in Pakistan is now 4.1 children per woman. Delivery of family planning services has been hampered by weak logistics systems and lack of contraceptive methods at service points as well as dearth of skilled health workforces to provide quality services to clients.

Pakistan faces daunting challenges to improving women’s reproductive health. The country falls in the high risk category for women’s sexual and reproductive health. Every year at least 15000 women die from complications of pregnancy and childbirth. Half a million children die before age 5, and 160, 000 in their first month. Only 16 percent of women receive at least four antenatal care visits during pregnancy, less than one-third of births are attended by skilled health personnel, maternal mortality rate is 320 per 100,000 live births that remains high. The country’s infant mortality rate is 75 per 1,000 live births and is higher than in Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

Honorable Minister, Ladies and Gentlemen complacency is unwarranted. Disinvestment in Health and social welfare is proving disastrous. we need to reposition Family Planning into the development agenda, integrate Family Planning for a more concerted effort and positive result. While we need to find new champions for Family Planning and promote greater resource mobilization for Reproductive Health programs, reinforce political commitment and promote good governance.

The South-South cooperation entails that we have among us the skills, capabilities and expertise, and if we can galvanize our efforts together, we can improve the destiny of our children.

We earnestly believe that there is a lot of knowledge and learning that Pakistan can share with its neighbors and we hope that the Pakistan’s achievements can act as inspiration for South-South Cooperation in this region. I should record that Pakistan has made tremendous progress in the areas of population and development in PPD member countries:

Pakistan has offered its expertise and experience in curriculum design and development of training modules for the full range of RH programs to various member countries. We are networking with Gujrat University of Pakistan to reinforce our program activities, especially in Capacity Building. Professor Nizam-Uddin, the Vice Chancellor of Gujrat University is a member of PPD International Program Advisory Committee (IPAC) and has been very active in the development of PPD Capacity Building Plan.

Government of Pakistan in collaboration with PPD jointly organized a very successful workshop on “South-South Cooperation and Sustainable Development” in 2006., and this helped to position PPD among development sectors in Pakistan. Unfortunately the momentum died out due to internal problems, and it is my earnest wish that this time we would move forward with added vigor and enthusiasm.

The Ministry of Population Welfare has been bold and forward looking in addressing FP from a religious perspective. The national seminar on “Islam and Family Planning” helped to bolster the involvement of religious leaders in SRH and Rights. The resulting Pakistan Ulama Declaration has indeed helped to break long standing barriers to reproductive health programs and has rekindled effort for reinforced program in collaboration with religious leaders. We wish to share with others the experience of Pakistan in involving religious leaders in addressing reproductive health program.

Countries in the South can indeed be leaders of the world. China is today the manufacturer of the world and India has become the leader of information technology in the world. PPD will ensure that developing countries, despite their low resource base, are able to fully utilize their comparative advantage and become leaders in their respective fields. PPD will continue to develop and build institutional and individual capacities, continue advocacy for better access to Family Planning Services, and the integration of RH with HIV/AIDS for a balanced sharing of resources, and work for a secured supply of affordable and quality RH products and services in our member countries.

In the context of promoting South-South cooperation, RH and HIV/AIDS programs in Pakistan, PPD commits to facilitate support and technical assistance. Many member countries are willing to provide products to Pakistan. India is prepared to help improve the procurement and effective storage of RH products.

Ladies and Gentlemen, PPD has been very supportive to Pakistan and has provided reproductive health commodities in 2007 and has also enhanced their capacity building initiative. We provided 10 fellowships to Pakistan for the diploma courses in Demography in Egypt in the past and we commit to provide an additional two one-year scholarships to Pakistan for 2010. On the Global Leadership program, PPD trained more than 20 leaders in RH from Pakistan. We also provided scholarships to Pakistan last year for special course on RH and Safe Motherhood in Bangladesh and China. We will be organizing the 5th Asia Pacific Conference on Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights between 18 and 20 October 2009 and we commit to invite representatives of Pakistan to attend.

Honorable Minister, Ladies and Gentlemen - You will be happy to learn that a MoU has been signed between China and PPD to provide assistance to the PPD member countries.

I have had personal discussion with Chinese authorities before coming to Islamabad, and am happy to inform you that China is ready to provide technical assistance to Pakistan to upgrade skills and competence of Pakistani medical personnel. We would be glad to learn from you on the areas in which technical assistance is required. Exchange of expertise between China and Pakistan in these particular areas would be organized. They are also ready to welcome Pakistani professionals in Beijing for capacity building.

I am pleased to invite two health professionals from Pakistan to join their counterparts from other PPD member states for a one week workshop on South- South Cooperation for the attainment of the ICPD goals in May 2009.

Funds have also been secured for a workshop for 20 representatives from Pakistan. The workshop will be specially tailored to your needs. We will discuss further with the authorities in Pakistan and finalize the concept note.

Honorable Minister, ladies and gentlemen, PPD has developed a new Strategic Business Plan (2008-2011) that was approved by its Board at its last meeting in November 2008. As stated in the plan, in the next four years PPD will focus on:

We wish Pakistan to be involved in all these four areas of focus of PPD and play a more active role in South-South Cooperation. Pakistan is at the cross roads. You can either make it or break it. I am sure with the new Government in place, Pakistan will make it. This government has given the right signal to the international community, and has shown commitment to reshape the destiny of its citizens, and this can be achieved essentially through increased investment in Reproductive Health.

I have the firm conviction, that together we will build a better future for our children. We need to create a solid foundation of strong and coherent partnership. Besides cross-sectoral collaborations between and within governments, we need also a strong private and public sector partnership, with participation of NGOs, academia, professional organizations, media agencies and all other branches of the civil-society in a spirit and movement that acknowledge and respect the roles and responsibilities of all and in addition provide necessary conditions for the growth of each and every one. This is a new culture that we wish to instill to enable government and stakeholders alleviate the sufferings of millions of our brothers and sisters in the developing world, and especially in South Asia.

PPD wishes to create an effective National Task Force in Pakistan to galvanize efforts to strengthen RH and promote South-South Cooperation, with the involvement of respective stakeholders. While Pakistan can share a lot of its experiences, it can also learn from the experiences of other countries. PPD will provide technical and other forms of assistance to the national task force to enable it achieve its objectives.

Let us join hands together to continue promoting the partnership with Pakistan and strive to improve the quality of life of our brothers and sisters in Pakistan and in the developing world.