Comprehensive and multifaceted strategies are required to increase young mothers’ and their families’ access to reproductive healthcare services.
Comprehensive and multifaceted strategies are required to increase young mothers’ and their families’ access to reproductive healthcare services.
According to a statement made by the Population Council in honour of International Women’s Day, women’s low social status and a lack of family planning education and resources are major factors in the reproductive healthcare that women, particularly adolescent mothers, face.
Young people in Pakistan are especially at risk for poor reproductive health, which is linked to negative outcomes like early childbearing and parenthood, pregnancy complications, maternal death, and disability.
Dr. Ali Mir, Senior Director of Programs at the Population Council, emphasised the need to use existing media and communication networks to end early marriages as well as encourage journalists to take an active part in this effort.
“Reaching out to young couples with accurate, reliable, and credible information on reproductive health, premarital counselling on family planning, and greater investments in education and employment opportunities for young couples, particularly young married women, are very much needed,” he said.
Ikramul Ahad, a senior communication officer for the Population Council, claimed that increasing maternal care and modern contraceptive services simultaneously would maximize benefits to women while also making efficient use of financial resources.
Currently, more than half of Pakistan’s 397,000 young women (15–19) who give birth do not receive the recommended four visits to antenatal care, and 126,000 do not deliver in a hospital.
The most frequent causes of maternal deaths in young mothers in Pakistan, according to him, are hypertension and unsafe abortions.
The Population Council‘s work in Pakistan focuses on improving and expanding access to reproductive healthcare; advising government officials on best practices for improving policies; highlighting population issues within the context of national elections; promoting capacity-building among healthcare facilities that offer family planning services; and providing research-based technical assistance.
The Population Council has been conducting operations research in Pakistan since 1957 and established a permanent office in Islamabad in 1991.