Federal Health Minister Syed Mustafa Kamal chaired a high-level meeting to review Pakistan’s rapidly increasing population and the current measures in place to address this national challenge. The session brought together the Secretary Health, Special Secretary, the Director General Population and senior officials from the Ministry of National Health Services to assess progress and plan next steps.
The Minister warned that population growth is occurring at an alarming pace, with roughly 6.1 million people being added each year, and called for urgent, decisive action to reduce the trend. He underlined that without tangible interventions to slow population growth, national health and development programmes will struggle to meet their targets and deliver expected benefits to citizens.
Participants discussed how uncontrolled population growth is intensifying pressure on Pakistan’s health system, affecting both the delivery and quality of services. Mustafa Kamal emphasized that efforts to improve outcomes for mothers and children must be integral to any strategy that addresses population growth, with a particular focus on underserved and vulnerable areas.
The minister directed concerned departments to develop practical, actionable and evidence-based interventions to confront the population challenge. He stressed the need to ensure the availability, effectiveness and affordability of contraceptives, and instructed officials to draft a comprehensive plan to strengthen and expand the role of Lady Health Workers at the community level.
Concrete measures were ordered to guarantee nationwide access to maternal and child health services and family planning, including targeted outreach in remote districts. Mustafa Kamal urged integrated and coordinated action between federal and provincial authorities to make service delivery more efficient and to protect the gains of public health programmes amid rising population pressures.
Concluding the meeting, the Federal Health Minister reiterated the government’s commitment to treating population growth as a national priority and called for close collaboration across all levels of government to secure sustainable development and improve the overall well-being of the population.
