ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s fertility transition began late, fell rapidly for a short period, and has shown no meaningful improvement since 2006. Birth rates remain high due to the country’s slow social and economic progress, particularly low levels of female education, high child mortality and limited income growth. This is the central finding of a study titled Unlocking the Stall in Fertility Decline and Socio-Economic Development in Pakistan, launched by the Population Council with support from the
Child Rights in Focus
KARACHI: Commissioner Karachi Syed Hassan Naqvi held a meeting with representatives of Private Hospitals and Clinics Association (PHCA), seeking their support to strengthen polio eradication efforts of the government. During the meeting, the commissioner highlighted the challenges the government had been facing in obtaining vaccination data from private hospitals, noting that this missing data was hampering analysis of polio vaccination targets. “Mr Naqvi urged private hospitals to play their role in the national effort
ISLAMABAD: Minister for Religious Affairs Sardar Mohammad Yousuf on December 11 said infants in Pakistan continue to die from diarrhoea, pneumonia and malnutrition because families abandon breastfeeding without medical reason. He said such behaviour amounts to “committing a sin” when Allah Almighty has clearly directed mothers to breastfeed their children. The minister was speaking at a national consultation “Advocating, promoting and supporting breastfeeding guided by Quranic injunctions and sayings of Prophet Muhammad PBUH” at
The Sindh Education Department’s Steering Committee on December 11 announced that all public and private educational institutions across the province will remain closed from December 22 to 31 for this year’s winter break. The spokesperson added that schools will reopen as normal on January 1, 2026, while supplementary examinations conducted by the education boards will continue as per schedule during the holiday period. Earlier, the Punjab School Education Department officially confirmed the schedule for
NORTH WAZIRISTAN/ WAZIRISTAN: In North Waziristan’s Mir Ali area, a government primary school was destroyed in an overnight explosion, affecting more than 600 students and disrupting education in the region. In the Mir Ali tehsil of North Waziristan, unknown armed assailants blew up the Government Primary School in the Ayaz Kot area of village Khushhali late last night. The explosion destroyed a major portion of the school building. According to government education department sources,
KARACHI: The Sindh Child Protection Authority has taken three minor siblings into protective custody and shifted them to a shelter home in Malir, while efforts continue to recover a fourth child, a 10-year-old boy allegedly handed over by his father to a group of beggars near Kala Pul in exchange for money. All four children belong to a family from Ghotki district of Sindh. Their father, Amanullah, a former Sindh police constable, had been
ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly was informed on December 10 that approximately 3.9 million beneficiaries have been enrolled in the ‘Nashonuma Program’ over the past five years to address the issue of stunting. Responding to questions during the question hour, Minister for Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Syed Imran Ahmad Shah said the enrolled beneficiaries include two million children and 1.8 million pregnant women. Citing an impact evaluation conducted by the Aga Khan University, the
LAHORE: Punjab Cabinet Committee on Law and Order’s Chairman Khawaja Salman Rafique has said that a school safety campaign has been launched in the province. A security audit of educational institutions across the province is also being conducted, he said while presiding over a meeting. The school education department has been directed to implement SOPs including boundary walls, training of guards and provision of technical equipment in the educational institutions. The minister said installation
ISLAMABAD: Residents of the Golra Police Station’s suburban area near Chora Stop thrashed seven Chinese nationals who allegedly attempted to lure young nomadic girls with money and forcibly take them away on December 10. Three of the Chinese nationals were apprehended by locals and handed over to the police, while four others managed to flee the scene. Police sources said that a man named Muhammad Khan lodged a complaint with Golra PS stating that
LAHORE: A two-year-old girl who was reportedly abducted from Ghaziabad neighbourhood was rescued in Muzaffargarh. Investigators said the suspected kidnapper was the child’s stepfather who was arrested. According to officials, the child had been abducted a day earlier, prompting a search operation. The investigators said initial findings suggested the suspect had abducted the child due to a domestic dispute. Meanwhile, police arrested a 50-year-old man for allegedly raping a 15-year-old girl over the past
• Over 75pc of environmental samples tested positive since mid-2025, meeting told • CM Murad directs officials to look into emerging public health crisis • Week-long anti-polio drive to begin from 15th KARACHI: There has been a sharp surge in circulation of poliovirus in the province, affecting at least 21 union councils, forcing the chief minister to direct concerned officials to look into the emerging public health crisis and take targeted measures to strengthen
SAHIWAL: A 14-year-old girl was admitted to the Sahiwal Teaching Hospital in a critical condition after allegedly being gang-raped by three youth in village 82/6-R on the night of December 8. According to reports, victim ‘S’ had gone to a village tandoor shop to buy rotis when she was allegedly kidnapped by a woman and a man. The duo allegedly took her on a motorcycle to a nearby house where the two suspects were