File photo of Gulzar Khan, who has fathered 36 children with his three wives. Abdul Majeed—AFP
The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors on Thursday approved $100 million for the Punjab Family Planning Program to boost the utilization of family planning services in Pakistan’s most populous province.
The program aims to provide free and timely access to quality family planning services, while also institutionalizing quality of care across the delivery system. It would also support public information and advocacy campaigns to raise awareness about the benefits of family planning. “This important program aims to achieve universal access to reproductive healthcare and to raise the usage of family planning methods in Punjab to 60 percent by 2030,” said Najy Benhassine, the World Bank country director for Pakistan. “This is critical for Pakistan’s development, as excessive population growth rates hampers development, slows the accumulation of human capital, and contributes to keeping families in poverty,” he added.
According to a statement issued by the World Bank, the program would scale up innovations, such as clinical franchising, voucher schemes, and family planning counseling through community leaders, which have already proven to be successful in pilot schemes in different districts of Punjab. The program also aims to reach areas and communities with limited or no access to family planning services through lady health workers, family welfare workers and community health workers linked to health facilities, family health clinics and family welfare centers. It also hopes to increase the utilization of family planning services by scaling up voucher incentive schemes, social marketing, male and community leaders’ engagement and youth platforms. The interpersonal communication skills of family planning service providers would also be improved under the program.
“Family planning enables couples to make informed choices about the number of children they want to have, and when they want to have them,” said Manav Bhattarai, team leader for the program. “Enabling individuals to plan their families helps prevent unplanned or unintended pregnancies, ultimately leading to a decrease in overall fertility rates,” he added.
The World Bank said the program would be implemented in all districts of Punjab through service delivery networks of the Population Welfare Department and the Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department. It also clarified that disbursement of funds would be directly linked to the achievement of specific program results.