Greenstar Social Marketing (GSM), an independent network member of Population Services International, and current secretariat of Pakistan Alliance for Post Abortion Care (PAPAC) organized the Annual National Assembly of the its members and associates in Lahore today. The event was held to address issues pertaining to low Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (CPR) yet a declining fertility rate due to induced abortions being used to manage unwanted pregnancies.
Pakistan has a low CPR and a declining Fertility rate, this is suggestive of induced abortions being used to manage unwanted pregnancies, usually in unsafe settings. Complications of miscarriages/abortion account for 10-12% of maternal deaths. Around 9,700 women die each year in Pakistan due to unsafe abortions. The purpose of the event was to highlight a variety of efforts that are underway to expand access to high-quality post abortion care (PAC) services.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Syed Azizur Rab, CEO, GSM said “An estimated 890,000 induced abortions occur annually in Pakistan, which means that 1 out of 6 pregnancies is terminated by induction of abortion mostly in an unsafe manner. For the first time in the history of our country, crucial Maternal and Child Health was an agenda in Prime Minister’s opening speech to the nation. This has encouraged Greenstar Social Marketing and PAPAC to accelerate the strategy of facilitating the achievement of Governments’ FP2020 commitments and highlight and accelerate efforts to avert unsafe abortions and provide post pregnancy family planning”.
PAPAC is a consortium of 45 organizations and was born in 2009 building on the framework of consultations and meetings by Non-Governmental Organizations to address these unsafe abortions. PAPAC is a supervisory body to monitor the organizational pledges and commitments to prevent unsafe abortions, provide post pregnancy Family Planning, ensure regular follow-up, advocacy and coordination at multiple levels including the Provincial and Federal Governments.
Officials from the Federal and provincial government attended the event and appreciated the measures taken by Greenstar and PAPAC to put a stop to unsafe abortions and provide post pregnancy family planning instructions.
