Day: July 11, 2012

ISLAMABAD: World Population Day is being observed by the international community since 1989 in order to focus on the urgency of population issues in the context of an overall development plan.The theme for 2012 is Universal Access to Heath Reproductive Services.

Pakistan does not fare too well in this department. In fact, it has one of the poorest maternal and health indices in the world, along with Ethiopia and Uganda.

A summit being organised by the United Kingdom government and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to mark World Population Day will focus on bridging the gap between demand and supply for reproductive healthcare.

Furthermore, the summit is aimed to seek more investment in family planning to reduce maternal deaths and improve women’s health. On the occasion, a global movement will be launched to give an added 120 million women in the world’s poorest countries access to family planning information, services and supplies by 2020.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Country Representative Rutgers WPF, Qadeer Baig, said the summit would be a great opportunity to advance family planning. However, he added that the moment should be seized to talk about broader issues of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), in order to effectively improve the quality of life of people, especially in Pakistan.

“Separating family planning from broader SRHR rights will not help us achieve the goal of reducing maternal and child mortality,” said Baig, adding that the biggest challenges were to educate Pakistani youth about SRHR, decrease the maternal mortality rate, and bring uniformity among the provinces to overcome these issues collectively.

“In Balochistan talking about family planning and SRHR is considered as committing a sin due to social taboo,” he said.

Pathfinder International’s Country Director Dr Tauseef Ahmed told The Express Tribune that Pakistan’s population is estimated to double in around 36 years, putting tremendous stress on limited resources available for development and welfare purposes.

In comparison to our neighbours, such as India and Iran, Pakistan lags behind in achieving several millennium development goals (MDGs), including contraceptive prevalence rate, fertility rate, prevalence of poverty, female illiteracy, and maternal health.
Ahmed went on to explain that a lack of political will and funding has severely hampered Pakistan from achieving most MDGs, especially those related to family planning as progress remains inconsistent with the national requirement of MDG’s. No attention is given to several aspects of family planning, including contraceptive procurement, counseling to millions of women who want to adopt family planning methods, and quality of services, he added.

“We have committed a lot but funding support toward the achievement of these is quite insufficient. With this pace of growth and lack of family planning policy it is difficult for Pakistan to achieve the targets by 2015, rather it would require the next 10 years to do achieve these goals,” Ahmed said

Express Tribune

SHE has already been to both polar ice-caps and skydived over Mount Everest. And now Namira Salim is set to go into space! Namira was selected from 44,000 candidates to become a member of the Virgin Galactic Founders Club and in 2006 was introduced to the world’s media in Dubai by Sir Richard Branson himself, reported Asian Image on Tuesday.Speaking to Asian Image, Namira said she was honoured to be first person from her country to go into space, “I was born believing that one day I’d go to space. “As a child, I was drawn to the beauty of the night sky and absolutely enchanted by the stars… as if something was calling out to me. I think it is the strong faith I had in my inner voice – that has manifested into reality. I have always been a risk taker and I believe in my convictions strongly. That is what drives me.”

Flight tests will take place later this year in preparation for next year, where she and 99 other guests will be launched into space. It is something she is looking forward too. “I have undergone and successfully cleared my suborbital spaceflight training which entailed a complete simulation of our actual spaceflight. “I was very delighted to have tolerated the actual G forces and to have adapted to motion sickness which I will encounter during my actual spaceflight.

“However, we are talking private spaceflight here and Virgin Galactic aims to make space travel a reality for every man, woman and child without much of health restraints.“This will be far easier on the body and a safe and commercially viable operation. You could be 95 years old, reasonably healthy and still aim for breaking the orbit!”Namira is also the first Pakistani national to reach both the North Pole and the South Pole as well as the first Asian to skydive (tandem) over Mount Everest. “I jumped (tandem) from 29,480 feet, with oxygen, just over Mount Everest. During free fall, I was descending at 158 miles/hour, but I felt as if I was totally suspended in thin air. There was no relative distance to feel the speed of the free fall.

“The expanse and beauty of the Himalayas was unmatched to any other drop-zone. We landed at the world’s highest drop zone Shangboche, at 12,350 feet – an altitude from where skydives usually begin”. Being Pakistan’s Tourism Ambassador inspired her to raise her universal Peace flag “Peace Making with Nations Souls” at the North Pole in April 2007. She was also thankful for the support her family gave her in achieving these feats.“My family was very supportive and without them behind me, I could have never made it. If at all, the challenge was to live on ice and adapt to an environment, I was very unfamiliar with. My family bought me my first telescope when I was 14.

“They encouraged me to attend the first conference of the first Astronomy Society of Pakistan (AMASTROPAK) when I became its first female member during high school. “I regularly went for star gazing parties with my brothers and studied Astronomy and Astrophysics with my mentor, Dr David McNaughton, the father of Astronomy in Dubai. “They were in for a shock when Virgin made it a reality and when I insisted on signing up as the First Pakistani Astronaut!.” “I did not realise that my potential spaceflight and adventures would generate so much press and that the story would become an inspiration for men, women and the youth alike. And truly, that is the most I get out of this. “It is also very flattering to see high-profile personalities I’ve interacted with in Europe and the US to be equally admirable of my humble endeavours.”

Namira really is ready to make history and ready to reach for the stars. She finishes by telling us, “There is a saying in my native language, ‘Urdu’ and it goes… ‘There are other worlds beyond the stars’ so I hope, one day I could venture further into the stars.”

The Nation

PESHAWAR: Women from different backgrounds said on Tuesday that they had defied all the odds to become businesswomen since it gave them financial as well as social empowerment.

“Women are not allowed to go out of house and do job. I think there is nothing wrong in starting a business and becoming financially independent,” said Shakira Afridi, a young woman from tribal area who had started a boutique after doing her MBA.

Other women who have displayed their products at an exhibition organised by Women Business Development Centre (WBDC) here at a local hotel also expressed similar view. Around 50 stalls all displaying women’s products and handicrafts on the opening day of three-day exhibition showed that women could prove their talent if they got encouragement from the family and government.

The centre, set up by Small and Medium Enterprise Development Authority of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has been holding such exhibitions to facilitate businesswomen display their products and develop market linkages. The women entrepreneurs were seen asking visitors for feedback to bring improvements in their products.

Saima, hailing from Charsadda, said that she started a few years ago making artificial jewellery. She said that even her family resisted the idea in the beginning as they thought she would not be able to market it.

“Now I have employed 25 women and we all make handmade jewellery. Families should support and trust their women in such endeavours,” she said.

Zarmina who runs a boutique and enjoys support of her family said that other hurdles could easily be overcome by women entrepreneurs if they got the much-needed family support for their work.

Maria, a married woman and boutique owner, said that when a woman started to work she had to sacrifice a lot as she had to take care of both her house and business. She believes that men and women both should work to give a better life to their children.

“A woman should do what she wants to do instead of wasting time. Yes, one has to sacrifice a lot, but nothing comes easy,” she said in response to a question.

The women talked of social hurdles, problems in marketing and lack of guidance and finances when they started their
businesses, but said that problems did not discourage them and now they had become empowered.

Embroidered shawls, women’s wear, antique jewellery, handbags and decoration pieces were on display which attracted visitors.

Dawn