• NFC award heavily favours population size: Mustafa Kamal.
• Says health ministry has proposed changes to NFC formula.
• Govt working with IMF for relief on contraceptives taxes: FinMin.
  

Federal Health Minister Mustafa Kamal on Sunday called for a union council-level population control campaign to tackle rapid population growth amid shrinking resources and the economic crisis facing the country.

The minister made the remarks during Geo News’ ‘Great Debate’, where officials and experts discussed the importance of birth spacing to control population growth and protect maternal and child health.

Senior journalist Shahzad Iqbal hosted the programme, which was attended by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, Punjab Health and Population Minister Khawaja Imran Nazeer, Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho and KP Health Minister Khaliq-ur-Rehman.

During the show, the host noted that around 6 million children are born every year in Pakistan, more than the entire population of New Zealand.

Federal Health Minister Kamal said that developed countries progressed after passing down governance to grass-root level.

He said awareness campaigns on population control and birth spacing would be more effective if led by local representatives such as councillors within their communities.

“Why do I keep saying that you’re killing 11,000 mothers? So when you’re going to give birth to a child, for any reason, you must know what you’re going to contribute. So the biggest thing about this is awareness,” he added.

Kamal said Pakistan’s current population policies discouraged provinces from reducing population growth, arguing that the National Finance Commission (NFC) award heavily favoured population size in the distribution of resources.

“You give 82% of your NFC award to the population. Which province will reduce its income?” he asked.

The minister said the federal health ministry had proposed changes to the NFC formula, suggesting that only 50% of allocations should be linked to population, while 32% should be tied to population control incentives.

“This is our written proposal for the federal government’s finance,” he said, adding that a formal paper had already been submitted.

Kamal also called for taxes on contraceptives to be abolished, arguing that the economic burden caused by rapid population growth far outweighed the revenue generated through taxation.

“You should zero taxes on contraceptives,” he said.

“The economic cost, where the burden on your hospitals, is a thousand times more.”

Describing population growth as both an economic and national security issue, Kamal warned that development gains would continue to be undermined unless the issue was addressed.

“No matter how much growth you show, no matter how hard you work, you’re filling water in a bucket and there are holes in that bucket,” he said.

The minister stressed that public awareness and behavioural change were central to tackling the issue, praising efforts aimed at educating people about family planning and reproductive health.

“You have to talk to his mind. You have to make him understand,” he said.

For his part, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said that the health minister was advancing a National Population Stabilisation Programme aimed at setting targets for total fertility, contraceptive prevalence, and population growth rates by 2030.

“We have several examples of Islamic countries that have successfully gone through this journey and achieved population stabilisation,” he said.

The finance minister described rapid population growth as one of the country’s two existential challenges, alongside climate change.

He said the government currently had $600 million and $700 million available annually for population-related interventions, adding that the figure could rise to $7 billion over the next decade.

Speaking about contraceptive imports, the finance minister said the government was working with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to seek concessions on sales taxes imposed on contraceptives, while also emphasising the need to promote local manufacturing of such products.

Renowned singer and social activist Shehzad Roy has called for mandatory digital reproductive health awareness for newly married couples, saying a lack of awareness remains a major hurdle in addressing Pakistan’s rapid population growth.

Speaking during a panel discussion, Roy said many couples either lacked awareness about family planning or did not have access to related services.

“I think that the low-hanging fruit is that when we get married, the marriage is registered in the Union Council,” Roy said, proposing that couples complete a digital reproductive health course at the time of marriage registration.

He said the online course had already been developed by an organisation and included information on birth spacing, family planning and contraceptives.

Roy said he had held several meetings with Nadra officials, including its chairman, who had been “very supportive” of the proposal. He suggested that completion of the course could be linked with marriage registration either through Union Councils or Nadra’s digital registration system.

“If the Union Council is not effective, now Nadra is starting to register through the pilot project and it has started in Punjab,” he said.

Referring to figures shared during the discussion, Roy said around 1.5 million women wanted access to family planning services. He stressed that while the proposed course would not solve every issue, it could significantly improve awareness among couples.

“I am not saying that by doing this course everything will be fine. But so many people do not have awareness,” he said.

Roy also urged federal and provincial ministers to support the initiative and help implement it through official registration mechanisms.