Pakistan’s Population Emergency

Pakistan Population Emergency - A policy research broadcast from Heartfile on Vimeo.
“Pakistan’s Population Emergency” focuses on Pakistan’s five-decade long commitment to Universal Health Coverage for Family Planning and its failure to impact desired outcomes. In particular, it aims to create awareness about the post-18th Amendment health systems constraints plaguing the population sector and resulting costs of inattention. In addition, it also outlines specific solutions and the potential opportunity, which exists to overcome these constraints.

Heartfile has recently produced a one of ours major documentaries on the health systems aspects of population, titled “Pakistan’s Population Emergency”. The documentary aims to create awareness about health systems constraints plaguing the population sector and the potential opportunity, which exists to overcome those constraints in the post-18 amendment scenario. Following are the segments in the documentary:

• Disconnect between the health and the population
• Family planning: and agenda for health
• Crack corruption
• Reproductive Health Centres A
• Reproductive Health Centres B
• Private sectors in family planning
• Male mobilizers
• Mobile Service Units
• Human Resource for FP
• Information Systems
• Contraceptive Supply Chain
• Role of federal government in family planning
• Post 18 Amendment Provincial action: progress and caveats

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS FOR THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
	After watching the documentary, respective ministries and departments of the Federal Government should deliberate on the following policy questions: How further along is the Council of Common Interests (CCI) in convening the National Commission on Population Welfare? Where do we stand in relation to the sixth population census? What are the Federal Ministry of National Health Services Regulation and Coordination’s (NHSRC) plans with respect to commodity security and supply chain management? Does the Ministry of NHSRC have a national plan of action to ensure Pakistan’s compliance with international commitments, particularly FP 2020? What measures has the Ministry of NHSRC taken to deliver family planning services in areas that have not been impacted by the 18thAmendment? Is the Ministry of NHSRC committed to investing in its orphan population research institutions and its allied normative agencies so as to support reform plans? Is the Ministry of NHSRC prioritizing the introduction of fertility and family planning metrics in all health information streams? Is the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics planning to institutionalize fertility and family planning metrics and measurements in regular existing population based surveys? Are the parliamentary committees on health and population holding joint sessions to take stock of trends in family planning?
	DISCUSSION QUESTIONS FOR THE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS
	After watching the documentary, respective ministries and departments of provincial governments should deliberate on the following policy questions: Are Chief Ministers personally leading inter-sectorial taskforces to spearhead reform plans in the provincial departments of Population and Health? Are issues of corruption in both departments being tackled? Are monitoring and accountability systems being strengthened? Are population and health being integrated at a functional level? Are joint PC-1s, synchronized communication strategies, integrated metrics and uniform contraceptive pricing being mandated? Are Population Regional Training Institutes being used for both the health and population sectors? Are provincial departments of health assuming greater responsibility for family planning by fully upscaling post-partum family planning and by according attention to Reproductive Health Centres-A in hospital reform plans? Is private sector institutional reimbursement for Long Acting Reversible Contraceptives in Reproductive Health Centres-B being reintroduced? Are provincial governments upscaling social marketing approaches through partnerships with NGOs and health entrepreneurs? Are population welfare departments conducting reviews of the male mobilizer and mobile services aspect of the population program to explore how best to tap their potential? Are novel governance arrangements for Regional Training Institutes being explored so as to bridge the link between family planning and women’s empowerment? Are provincial governments making adequate allocations for contraceptive security and are the population welfare departments seeking help from the federal government to maintain the logistics and supply chain by invoking Article 147 of the Constitution to benefit from economies from scale?