Speaking at the event, Country Advisor Gates Foundation, Dr Yasmin Qazi shared the historical perspective on family planning in Pakistan and stressed that we need to work collaboratively to address the gaps and fulfill the unmet needs of couples who want access to family planning support. For this we need to ensure steady supply of contraceptive commodities supplemented by behavior change engagement and counselling.
Country Director Jhpiego, Dr Fauzia Assad said that an integrated multisectoral approach is imperative for expansion of family planning choices by scaling up self-injection contraceptives. She added that we need to continue to innovate by inclusion of concepts such a self-care in Family Planning and in particular focus upon engaging men in the ongoing discourse of Family Planning.
President Szabist University, Ms. Shehnaz Wazir Ali remarked that joint planning is critical for creating cohesion amongst FP2030 partners and assured galvanizing academia support for partners. Ms. Wazir also appreciated CIP for being acknowledged as global best practice model out of 43 countries.
UNFPA representative, Ms Renuka Swami cautioned that with the world population reaching 8 billion it underscores the need for moving from number towards making informed choices. She suggested to engaging young people in the discourse of family planning.
Dr Mohiuddin, RIZ consulting said that one of the core indicators under FP2030 is increasing the modern contraceptive prevalence rate (mCPR) and for that it is imperative to scale-up new modern contraceptive such as self-injectable Sayanna Press.
Program Officer FP BMG, Linnea Eitmann stated that she is invigorated by the joint partnership and the leadership of Honorable Minister Dr Azra and CIP and commended how Pakistan is inclined towards gender transformative approaches and based on the enthusiasm towards change working Pakistan will be a priority. She also informed the participants regarding Gates foundation three core components i.e. expanding method choice, developing new and improved contraceptive methods and lastly increasing access to each method.
The meeting concluded with the FP2030 partners reaffirming their support for the unified goal for working collaboratively for balanced population management and resultantly as stronger prosperous Pakistan.
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