The Punjab Family Planning Programme will get $100 million thanks to funding approved by the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors on Thursday. The program’s goal is to boost the use of family planning services in Punjab, where more than half of the nation’s population resides.
According to a brochure from the lending institution, the program would offer swift access to excellent family planning services at no cost.
The bank stated that it would also institutionalize the delivery of high-quality care throughout the system for family planning services.
So that more families are made aware of the advantages of family planning, the initiative will also support public education and advocacy operations.
According to Najy Benhassine, the World Bank’s Country Director for Pakistan, “this significant program aims to achieve universal access to reproductive healthcare and to raise the usage of family planning methods in Punjab to 60% by 2030.”
This is crucial for Pakistan’s development since rapid population increase hinders progress, delays the development of human capital, and keeps families in poverty.
The program will scale up ideas that have been tested in different Punjabi areas and have improved family planning outcomes, such as clinical franchising, voucher programs, and community leaders providing family planning counseling.
With the help of an extensive network of female health professionals, family welfare workers, and community health workers connected to medical institutions, family health clinics, and family welfare centers,
The program will reach places and communities where family planning services are scarce or absent.
To increase the use of family planning services, the program will scale up the voucher incentive program, social marketing, male and community leaders’ engagement, and youth platforms.
As a result, family planning service providers will have better interpersonal communication abilities.
According to Manav Bhattarai, team leader for the program, “Family planning enables couples to make informed decisions about the number of children they want to have and when they want to have them.”
Enabling people to plan their families helps reduce unforeseen or unplanned pregnancies, which ultimately results in a decline in fertility rates as a whole.
The Population Welfare Department and the Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department, the two project-implementing agencies, will implement the program through their service delivery networks in all districts.
The program makes use of the Programme-for-Results (PforR) finance tool, which directly connects the release of funds to the achievement of designated program results.
