Human Development Key To Accelerate Economic Growth: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that human development is a key to accelerate growth of the economy.

KARACHI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 23rd Feb, 2018 ) :Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that human development is a key to accelerate growth of the economy. He said this while talking to the Wold Bank Mission which is visiting Sindh to explore the options for improving population outcomes in the province.

The mission was led by Lead Health Specialist and team Leader World Bank Washington Ms. Sameera Maziad Al Tuwaijri. Other members of the mission were Program Leader Cristine Isabel Panasco Santo, Senior Operations Officer Naoko Ohno, Senior Health Specialist Tayyeb Masud, Senior Economist Shakil Ahmed, Senior Social Protection Specialist Sohail Abbasi, UNFPA Deputy Country Director Sarah Masale and others.

Technical Advisor, PWD, Dr. Talib Lashari was the focal point of the mission on behalf of Sindh government. The Mission held concluding meeting with Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah at CM House.

They appreciated the high level political commitments in Sindh for human development specially in terms of implementing the Pakistan's international commitment on Family Planning (FP) 2020. The Mission also noted that Sindh is the first province to develop the Costed Implementation Plan (CIP) to achieve the goals of FP 2020.

In this regard, Sindh will increase its Contraceptive Prevalence Rate {CPR} from 30 per cent in 2015 to 45 per cent in 2020.

Population Welfare Department has developed the Population Policy. In the meeting it emphasized for accelerated growth in economy for which it was suggested that human development is key to such progress.

ln this regard, birth spacing, girls education, youth involvement, women empowerment are the critical areas. The Mission presented policy options for accelerated progress including family planning.

The recommendations included institutional reforms in short term, medium term and long term. The Mission appreciated the work of Sindh FP 2020 Working Group/Task Force and recommended that such a multi-sectoral forum may be further strengthen to address issues of women empowerment, gender equalities, social determinants of health and stream-lining the service delivery.

Earlier, the World Bank Mission had held meetings with Dr. Azra Fazal Pechuho MNA and Chair Sindh FP-2020 Working Group/Task Force, Ms. Shahnaz Wazir Ali Provisional Technical Coordinator Oversight Cell, Ms.

Shireeri Narejo Secretary Planning and Development, Dr. Fazlullah Pechuho Secretary Health, Laeeq Ahmed Secretary Population Welfare Department, Dr. Shahab Qamar Special Secretary Finance and Raheem Shaikh Special Secretary to Chief Minister. The Mission also visited Aga Khan University and some NGOs to assess their role in population sector.