By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The World Bank approved a $100 million program to increase the use of family planning services in Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province, as part of its efforts to reduce poverty and improve human capital.
The program will provide free and timely access to family planning services, improve the quality of care across the service delivery system, and support public information and advocacy campaigns to raise awareness of the benefits of family planning, the World Bank said in a statement on Thursday.
The program aims to achieve universal access to reproductive health care and to raise the usage of family planning methods in Punjab to 60 percent by 2030, from about 40 percent currently, according to Najy Benhassine, the World Bank’s country director for Pakistan.
“Excessive population growth rates hamper development, slow the accumulation of human capital, and contribute to keeping families in poverty,” Benhassine said. “Family planning enables couples to make informed choices about the number of children they want to have, and when they want to have them.”
The program will scale up innovations that have been piloted in different districts of Punjab and have shown improvements in family planning outcomes, such as clinical franchising, voucher schemes, and family planning counseling through community leaders. It will also target areas and communities that have limited or no access to family planning services, and improve the interpersonal communication skills of service providers.
The program will be implemented by the Population Welfare Department and the Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department of Punjab, using a financing instrument that links the disbursement of funds directly to the achievement of specific program results.
The World Bank has been supporting Pakistan’s efforts to improve health and population outcomes, with a portfolio of about $1.3 billion in loans and grants. Last week, it approved $46 million for a project to enhance citizen-centered service delivery in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
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