Family Planning in Pakistan - Essay Example

Family Planning in Pakistan The Pakistan population has experienced a high rate of growth over the past decades. The rapid population growth is not only an issue in Pakistan, but a global issue. In the year 2012 the Pakistan population was at 180 million. Due to this growth there has always been a need for the use of population control measures such as family planning in Pakistan. However, there are a number of reasons as to why family planning has not been particularly effective in population control in Pakistan. This paper aims at discussing the use of family planning has not been particularly effective as a population control measure in Pakistan. Pakistan was among the first Asian countries to introduce family planning programs. They were able to do this through the help of some international donors. Despite that fact that they were among the first Asian countries to introduce family planning programs, there has been a relatively low decrease in the rate of fertility as compared to Asian countries that introduced the programs later. By the year 2007 Pakistan was ranked as the 6th most populated country in the world (Seltzer 111). In History the family planning programs has occasionally been disrupted by political turmoil in the country. In the year 1969, joint action by the left-wing Pakistan Peoples Party and right-wing religious parties overthrew Ayub Khan. Yahya Khan who succeeded Ayub Khan was preoccupied with the civil war between the eastern and the western part of Pakistan to ever pay attention to things like family planning. During this period, the family planning program in Pakistan focused on reducing pregnancies in the country instead of just contraception (Pati 99). It was during this period that pills were introduced in Pakistan. In the year 1971 as the country’s split continued growing wider there was a decline in the amount of international aid coming into the country and family planning was one of the most affected aid dependent programs in Pakistan. In the same year the Pakistan Peoples Party seized control of the Pakistan government. The leader of the party, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto used an anti-capitalist, anti-American, and anti-Ayub Khan-stance so that he would gain popularity with the local people. This led to a decline in the aid from the western countries. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was eventually unable to fund the socialite promises that he had given to the people. During his reign less attention was paid to family planning because of the fact that family planning was viewed among the local people as a thing of the western people. This was further buffered by the lack of fund to make sure that the family planning programs were successful. One thing that is believed to be the highest contributor to the unpopularity of family planning methods in Pakistan is religious beliefs. A majority of the citizens of Pakistan are Muslims. Muslim believers are highly diverse with people from different races, ethnicity, language, and origin being believers in the Muslim doctrine. Another notable thing about the Muslim doctrine is that there is a variance in the religious conservatism. In Pakistan, secular governments rule the Islam law rules some parts of the country while others. In this country, extremely conservative Muslim beliefs are dominant in most parts of the country. There is a common belief of the Islam based political parties in Pakistan that the use of contraception is against the beliefs of the Islamic religion, and thus should not be allowed to take place in Pakistan (Ahmad 211). With religious leaders opposing the use on the contraceptive measure it is clearly evident that family planning as a way of restricting population growth in the country was likely to be unsuccessful. During the reign of Ayub Khan Slogans such that depicted the use of family planning as a way of encouraging sexual immorality were used in many occasions by protesters. However, there is a big divide on the issue of contraceptives among the Muslims in Pakistan. Some Muslim religious leaders have openly stated that there is nothing wrong with the use of contraceptives. The people who are in support for the use of family planning have used the Quran to state the reason for their support for family planning. When it comes to the issue of contraception, most Muslims would refer to hadith. Hadith refers to one of the collection of prophet Mohamed’s sayings. In this collection, the prophet asserts that Withdrawal was allowed as a method of contraception in the Muslim religion. He further says that if God was willing to create something nothing and no one can be able to avert it. This quote has always been used by those in support of the use of family planning to mean that the religion does not have anything against any non-permanent methods of family planning. The confusion between the two groups has evidently led to confusion among the believers of Islam. As a result of this confusion, majority of the believers have opted for not using family planning methods so that they can make sure that anything they do is in accordance with the beliefs of their religion. The reasoning is that by not using human made contraceptives they will be following the beliefs of the religion whether or not the religion allows them to use contraceptives. This fact can be used to explain the high rate of population growth that has always been registered in Pakistan, despite having been among the first countries in Asia to introduce family planning programs. Another thing that can be said to be one of the contributing factors to the low rate at which the popularity of family planning is growing in Pakistan is the marital cultural beliefs. In Pakistan, women are domesticated and are restricted to their homestead. Much of the decision-making at the domestic level is left to men. This can be said to have led to the lack of popularity of family planning in the country. Looking at other countries where family planning has been successful, someone will notice that the decision to go for family planning is always made on mutual agreement between the couple. However, in most cases it is always the women who initiate the topic. However, in a case where decision making is entirely left to the men, it is less likely for there to be more discussion on family planning. Even if they would raise such concerns, the final decision will still depend on what their husbands think. Education levels in Pakistan have also been observed to be generally low. It becomes even lower among the female members of the society. The cultural belief that women are supposed to stay at their homes and attend to the domestic chores has highly contributed to these differences. Many families in Pakistan have their male children attaining higher levels of education, while their female children are only given a chance of getting the basic education. In some rural parts of Pakistan, it was also observed that some female children do not get a chance to go to school at all. However, the education levels in the country can be said to be generally low. With low education or no education at all people are likely not to know the benefits of family planning (Mumtaz, Mitha and Tahira 123). Such people are likely to believe the misleading information that is always given to them about the implications of using contraceptives. One of the most common misconceptions about contraceptives in Pakistan is that they can lead to barrenness and early menopause. The uses of contraceptives in Pakistan rural areas and urban areas have been noticed to be highly different. The use of contraceptives in the rural areas is low with only a few people being aware of the importance of using contraceptives for family planning. There are a number of factors that can be used to explain this difference. These factors include high poverty levels, isolation, and illiteracy. Because contraceptives are things that mostly come from other countries, getting them to the rural areas is always a big challenge to the involved parties. However, even if the contraceptives are taken to the rural parts of Pakistan, not everyone will be able to afford them. Due to the high poverty levels in the rural parts of Pakistan, people usually prefer not to buy because of their financial expenditures. Buying of contraceptives is usually not a priority in such situations. Due to these factors, contraceptives and family planning in general are not popular in the rural parts of Pakistan. Government policies such as Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper have been put in place to make sure that poverty is reduced in all parts of the country, and increasing the economic independence so that people could be able to afford family planning. The government has also pledged to provide universal access to family planning in the country. It is clearly evident that family planning is not as popular as it ought to be in Pakistan. Much of this can be attributed to the political, cultural, religious, and economic factors that have been discussed herein. There are a number of things that can be done to make sure that family planning is made popular in Pakistan. For, instance the government could partner with the private sector to improve education standards especially for the female population and to start programs that will educate the public on the importance of family planning and counter the stereotypes that have been spread about family planning. Work cited Ahmad, Shakeel. Muslim Attitude Towards Family Planning. New Delhi: Sarup & Sons, 2003. Print. Mumtaz, Khawar, Yameema Mitha, and Bilquis Tahira. Pakistan: The Background, the Issues, the People. Oxford: Oxfam, 2003. Print. Pati, Rabindra N. Family Planning. New Delhi: A.P.H. Pub. Corp, 2008. Print. Seltzer, Judith R. The Origins and Evolution of Family Planning Programs in Developing Countries. Santa Monica: RAND, 2002. Internet resource. Read More