ASIA
Pakistan

The Population Council, which has worked in Pakistan since 1957, established an office in Islamabad in 1991, initially to serve as headquarters for the USAID-funded Asia and Near East operations research and technical assistance project. Today, the Council contributes high-quality research to inform policy dialogue. It is regarded as a premier social science and public health research organization and an influential development partner, working closely with the ministries of population welfare and health, as well as with nongovernmental organizations.

Program Focus

From an early focus on developing professional and institutional resources (capacity building) in family planning in the 1960s and 1970s, the Council’s work in Pakistan has evolved into a multisector research and capacity-building program. A country strategy developed in 1998–99 targeted four areas of work: research-based technical assistance, reproductive health, population and development, and capacity building.

Today, reproductive health remains the major focus, and capacity building is an important underlying theme. In February 2008, the Council launched a new five-year family planning project called Family Advancement for Life and Health, which is funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The aims of the project are to promote family planning by increasing knowledge of birth spacing through a strategic mass-media campaign and to expand access to high-quality family planning services by strengthening public- and private-sector facilities, thereby reducing the high maternal and infant mortality and morbidity rate that continues to be one of the country’s most critical issues.

The Council also is engaged in policy development in several areas and was instrumental in the formulation of the 2002 National Population Policy. It made significant contributions to Pakistan’s understanding of issues concerning poverty, gender, and youth by means of a national survey of adolescents and youth conducted in 2001. The Council has contributed toward monitoring and evaluation of Pakistan’s large, well-funded HIV and AIDS program and has participated in technical consultations.

Highlights of Past and Present Work

• Currently implementing a large family planning project, Family Advancement for Life and Health (FALAH, funded by USAID), in 20 underserved districts through a seven-partner consortium. The Government of Pakistan is greatly interested in the program and has announced an initiative to scale it up and to create a public awareness program.
• Conducting operations research and evaluating the Pakistan Initiative for Mothers and Newborns (PAIMAN), a maternal and neonatal health project, in ten districts of Pakistan. The PAIMAN consortium is lead by John Snow, Inc. (JSI) and funded by USAID. The Council oversees the management of the monitoring and evaluation component of the project. In 2006, the Council completed and published comprehensive baseline household-survey reports and results for ten implementing districts.
• Implemented the Safe Motherhood Applied Research and Training (SMART) project, funded by the European Union, in D.G. Khan and Layyah Districts. The Council developed, implemented, and evaluated community-based health interventions. The study demonstrated the effect of interventions on the reduction of the perinatal mortality rate in the sites in which it was implemented. The Council is committed to the objectives of the SMART project, and will continue to carry out its efforts through the ongoing USAID-funded PAIMAN and FALAH projects.
• Catalyzed the establishment of the Population Association of Pakistan, an association for population and public health professionals; established a master’s degree in population sciences program in three national universities; and strengthened population and leadership training throughout the public health system.
• Evaluated the Ministry of Health’s lady health worker program, which was instrumental in the program’s expansion to nearly 100,000 female community workers throughout Pakistan.
• Developed and tested a client-centered approach to reproductive health services for the public health system, which is being scaled up in other parts of the country.
• Conducted an authoritative national study of unwanted pregnancy and postabortion care and initiated procedures to reduce high levels of induced abortion.

Selected Projects

Current

• Poverty, Gender, and Youth

  • Changing Educational Opportunities in Rural Areas in Pakistan (ongoing)
  • National Survey of Young People in Pakistan (ongoing)

• Reproductive Health

  • Family Advancement for Life and Health (FALAH) (6/07–5/12)

  • Monitoring and Evaluating the Primary Healthcare Revitalization, Integration and Decentralization in Earthquake-affected Areas (PRIDE) Program (1/07–8/10)

  • Pakistan Initiative for Mothers and Newborns (PAIMAN) (11/04–9/09)
  • Building on the 2005 Population Summit (10/06–8/08)

  • Introduction of Emergency Contraception into Ministry of Health Programs (10/07–2/08)

Completed

• Poverty, Gender, and Youth

  • Evaluation of the Punjab Female School Stipend Program (9/06–6/07)

  Reproductive Health

  • Analyzing the Links Between Population and Poverty (12/06–12/07

  • National Study of Reproductive Tract Infections in Pakistan (9/06–10/07)

  • Training of Trainers for Traditional Birth Attendants (3/07–9/07)

  • Building Capacity and Supporting Evidence-based Programs and Policies in Population and Reproductive Health in Pakistan (6/06–5/07)

  • Pilot Study of Contraception and Abortion in Five Country Settings (3/06–2/07)
  • Planning a Summit on Population Policy (completed 12/06)
  • Improved Pakistani Family Planning and Reproductive Health Services Program (completed 12/06)
  • Research Awards in Reproductive Health (completed 12/06)
  • Safe Motherhood Applied Research and Training Project in Pakistan (SMART) (completed 10/06)
  • Small-scale Research Grants in Reproductive Health in Pakistan (completed 7/06)
  • Protection and Vulnerability Assessment Survey (completed 3/06)
  • Earthquake Vulnerability Assessment: Pakistan 2005–06 (completed 3/06)
  • Support for Leadership and Capacity Building in Pakistan
    (completed 12/05)
  • Action Planning for Women's Reproductive Health Services in Pakistan (completed 11/04)
  • Better Reproductive Health for Poor Women in South Asia
    (completed 6/04)
  • Research on Unwanted Pregnancies and Postabortion Complications in Pakistan (completed 5/03)
  • National Study of RTIs and STIs in Pakistan (completed 4/02)
  • Implementing a Client-Centered Approach to Reproductive Health Services (completed 2002)
  • Evaluation of the National Program for Family Planning and Primary Health Care in Pakistan (completed 9/01)

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See Also

• Contact Information for Pakistan

• "Population Council in Pakistan," 2007 brochure (PDF)

• "Council conducts first-ever comprehensive study of Pakistani youth," 2003 news release (full text)

• "In Pakistan, husbands as obstacles to contraceptive use," 2001 news release (full text)

• Gender and Family Dynamics

• Reproductive Health

• Transitions to Adulthood

Offsite Links

• PAIMAN (An interagency collaboration to improve maternal, newborn, and child health in  Pakistan)

• Population Libraries Network of Pakistan

• Reproductive Health Research Working Group

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This page updated 3 April 2009

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