The Sindh government has launched a new campaign to curb the province’s soaring population, which grows by nearly 1.4 million people each year, the equivalent of adding a new district annually.

The new strategy focuses on increasing male participation through vasectomy and expanding access to self-administered contraceptives for women. 

Sindh Population Welfare Secretary Hafeezullah Abbasi told a private news channel that the department, in partnership with Johns Hopkins University, plans to carry out door-to-door surveys across all 1,600 union councils.

At the same time, the campaign will engage around five million industrial workers in awareness sessions, while students at schools and universities will also be educated on the consequences of unchecked population growth. 

“Since men are usually the key decision-makers in households, it is crucial to involve them in these programmes,” Abbasi said.

He noted that around 3,000 men in Sindh have already opted for vasectomy, many due to conditions like thalassaemia or HIV/AIDS.

Abbasi added that a wide range of contraceptive services are being offered in coastal and island areas, including sterilisation, birth-spacing devices, pills and Sayana Press, a self-injectable contraceptive that provides protection for three months. 

Since 2018, women in Sindh have used Sayana Press about 1.3 million times. Major hospitals, the provincial health department, and non-governmental organisations often receive contraceptive supplies, including sterilisation kits, IUCDs, implants, injections, and pills, according to Director of Administration Faisal Meher. 

IUCDs that are effective for up to 10 years and implants that last three to five years are also offered by family planning units in 20 gynaecology wards spread throughout nine large hospitals.

Meher said Sindh’s contraceptive prevalence rate stood at 31% in 2017-18, with targets to raise it to 47% by 2025 and 57% by 2030. He pointed out that male sterilisation cases in Karachi have surged in recent years from just 23 to 2,500 in 2022, thanks to more than 1,000 male mobilisers from HANDS being trained to promote vasectomy awareness. 

Highlighting the urgency, Meher noted that early marriages in rural Sindh often result in women having six to eight children by the age of 30. The programme, supported by Johns Hopkins University, SZABIST University and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is designed to help the province meet its Family Planning 2030 commitments.

Vasectomy, a surgical procedure that blocks or cuts the vas deferens, prevents sperm from being released during ejaculation, but does not affect sexual desire, performance or pleasure. Doctors advise that men can typically resume sexual activity within one to two weeks of the procedure.