Buledi Calls For Empowering Women To Control Population Growth

QUETTA, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 20th Jul, 2023 ) :Parliamentary Secretary of Law, Science, and Information Technology Dr. Rubaba Khan Buledi Thursday underscored the need to empower women to bring the rapidly growing population to a sustainable level.

Effective measures should be taken by formulating strategies to empower Pakistani women by providing equal opportunities and creating awareness about their reproductive health rights to bring the rapidly growing population to a sustainable level, said Buledi.

She was addressing a seminar organized in collaboration with UNFPA and the Population welfare department to mark World Population Day.

"Only 10 percent of the total female population can make decisions about their own health," she remarked.

She said gender equality is a global issue, Pakistan ranks at the bottom of the Gender Gap Index ranking of 2202, which means that Pakistan has a very low rate of gender equality.

The percentage of women's seats in the national assembly is also low, women's empowerment through women's education, women's participation in the labor force, and gender equality are issues of national importance for which multi-faceted measures are indispensable for their solution, she maintained.

Addressing the ceremony through video link, Chief Secretary Balochistan Abdul Aziz Uqaeli said that the government is taking serious steps to achieve the national goals related to family planning and the implementation of effective policy in this regard should prove to have substantial results.

Balochistan has its own special traditions in which religious scholars, civil society, students, and all sections of the society will have to advance the message of awareness.

Balochistan is the largest province of the country where health facilities and food were facing shortage and maternal mortality rate for which the Health Department, Education Department, and Population Welfare Department will have to take concrete steps to deal with it, he noted.

Expressing government resolve, he said "Government is determined to implement the goals set by the National Council for Common Interests.

The Secretary Population Welfare Department Abdullah Khan on the occasion said that the government of Balochistan has substantially increased the budget of the health and family planning sector. We have to move forward with a clear vision of development.

Special Secretary of Health Department Muhammad Dawood, Head of Gynaecology Department Dr. Uzma Sohail, former Speaker Balochistan Assembly Rahila Hameed Khan Durrani, religious scholar Qari Abdul Rasheed, RTI student Fiza Dilawar also spoke on the occasion.