“Empowering Parents To Plan Their Families and Overcome Poverty in Pakistan”

In this story, Dr. Ashchenaz Lall, Director of the Christian Hospital Taxila in Punjab, Pakistan explains why women may be reluctant to use family planning in his country. “This is a male dominated society, and women don’t have much power in deciding the number of children they have,” he explains. “There is pressure from society to have a large number of children and Family Planning methods and procedures are considered taboo. Faith-based convictions sometimes influence a family’s decision in a direction away from family planning. Many educational institutions are hesitant to talk about this, so the level of awareness about reproductive health is low. On top of that, poverty also keeps many people from going to healthcare facilities.” In spite of this, the Christian Hospital Taxila provides family planning services to women of all faiths in the area, helping them time and space pregnancies to optimize health and overcome poverty.