Pakistan's population has doubled since 1981 and at current fertility rate it is projected to be doubled again in the next 34 years. – File Photo

ISLAMABAD: As the youth were involved, through a dialogue, in the efforts to spread awareness about family planning and sexual reproductive health, it was the policymakers who lacked resolve to proactively making population control their primary concern.

The interactive dialogue was organised between the policymakers and young people by Rahnuma, the Family Planning Association of Pakistan. The event was aimed at providing the youth with an opportunity to confront the policymakers about their strategies to deal with the lack of awareness about sexual health in the country as well as insufficient efforts to control the population growth rate.

Pakistan's population has doubled since 1981 and at the current fertility rate; it is projected to be doubled again in the next 34 years. In addition, one out of every four births today is unwanted but lack of education and awareness among women means that birthrate is not coming down quickly enough and Pakistan's maternal and child mortality rates are the highest in the region.

"Pakistan's demographic challenges put an immense stress on our resources in planning for population, food, jobs, housing, water, energy etc," explained Zeba Sattar, Country Director for Population Council, Pakistan.

"Part of the problem is complete ignorance of the sexual aspects of life. Sex is a fact of life, if the Holy Quran deals with all these issues, why don't we?" questioned Duniya Aziz, MNA, and member of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health.

Part of this acceptance is informing our youth about changes they will face as they go through puberty and come to terms with their sexuality.

"When my friend's menstruation cycle started, she faced many psychological and emotional problems because no one told her about the significance of this change in her body. She got no guidance from her family or teachers and did not have anyone to talk to. How will this culture change?" asked Rabia, one of the students on the panel posing questions to the policymakers.

Similar questions were thrown towards the MNAs and MPAs as students revealed their stories of difficult transitions related to their sexual health they suffered through, simply because there was no mechanism to prepare them ahead of time or solve the problems they faced. They wanted to know who was responsible for educating the youth and society about family planning and sexual reproductive health. Even though the students in the panel and the audience made compelling cases for the need to spread awareness and create safe places for them to discuss sexual reproductive health problems, the policymakers could not let go of the resistance to accepting this aspect of life and not treating it as a taboo.

MPA Shazia Tarmeez of Khyber-Pakthunkhwa (KP) accepted that because of difficulties in consensus with the more conservative elements of society, the KPK government decided that it would not have a family planning programme in their policy - a disappointing result of devolution of social programmes some of which have been eliminated by the provinces.

In contrast, Khurram Gulfam, an MPA from Punjab brought happy news by revealing Punjab's Youth Policy which would empower the youth and work towards creating reproductive health awareness once formulated. Punjab has also gained a positive reputation for having one of the most effective and well-run lady health worker programmes which play an integral role in spreading awareness about family planning.

However, Punjab only proved to be an exception as MPA Raheela Durrani from Balochistan simply rejected the possibility of making sexual reproductive health part of school curriculum.

"We have to consider society and reactions - if these questions are put in front of the provincial assembly, there will be a lot of opposition. I won't be able to suggest that this be added to the curriculum, and frankly, nor do I want to." But she suggested that specific programmes to spread awareness in a way that does not offend sensibility can be developed.

Luckily, Sindh came to save the day as Nusrat Abbasi, MPA, declared: "I will bring this resolution to the assembly and even if it is not accepted, at least we will debate it."

Disappointingly, it seems that the youth could not convince the policymakers to bring the important matter of their sexual wellbeing and Pakistan's population to the fore - but it was good to see that our future generation is accepting and pushing the need for accepting the role of sexual health awareness and wellbeing in society.