When I enter Lahore's Jinnah Hospital, there is a separate small building on the left on which the board of Family Health Clinic is attached. This building is not that prominent but the 'Nujwan Dost Health Center' built inside it is a beacon of hope for the youth, especially women.
The facility of 'Marriage Counselling' is available before marriage at this center under the supervision of Population Welfare Department of Punjab. The clinic has a team of trained marriage psychologists who guide the youth on marriage-related issues.
Hina Ali (pseudonym) is a student and her family has arranged her marriage. She is not ready for marriage and feels stressed nowadays. So they turned to this clinic.
Talking to Urdu News, he said that this is my third session here and I have understood many things which were causing me trouble earlier. It's not that I don't like this marriage, but I was feeling a strange burden. In which there was an element of fear. But now I am quite confident. I was told by a friend of mine who studies here in Allama Iqbal Medical College. That I should go here with my problem.
At present, there are three psychologists at Jinnah Hospital's Youth Friendly Health Center. Clinical psychologist Anza Javed has been providing premarital counseling to young people for the past five years.
He said, "Nowadays there is a lot of interest among people. Welfare Population Centers were earlier known as active institutions for intergenerational breaks. But now the situation is changing. Most of the people who come to me are young girls. And I counsel four to five people a day.
Marriage counseling of pre-marital youth in Pakistan came to the fore in 2018 when the country's Supreme Court directed the government to take measures to curb the growing population through a suo motu notice.
Following the court order, the Council of Common Interests issued an advisory to all provinces making marriage counseling mandatory before marriage.
The Government of Pakistan, the World Health Organization and the Forum for Safe Motherhood have also recently launched a mobile application called 'Aghaz' which provides information on pre-marital counseling for young people.
In Lahore this year, a wedding was scheduled to take place in Shad Bagh area. In this regard, Nikah Khawan was informed. When the Nikah Khawan (who wishes to remain anonymous) saw the girl's age, he suspected that the girl was not yet of marriageable age.
He started convincing the girl's family about this. Hafeez (pseudonym) said, "I very politely put the matter before the girl's family and informed them of the implications." I am very happy that the marriage stopped.
Hafeez is one of the 35 Nikah Khanas who were made part of the pilot project to train them in pre-marital counselling.
This pilot project was a joint project of the federal government of Pakistan, the World Health Organization and other organizations that was launched in 2020. The Islamic Ideological Council and the Ulama Board were also consulted for a long time before launching this pilot project.
What is pre-marriage counseling?
Jawaria Ijaz, a consultant in the project called Aghaz mobile application for reproductive health, says that pre-marriage counseling is to educate the youth mentally about the issues of marriage.
It is important to mention that marriage is a matter far beyond the marital relationship of two people. In pre-marriage counseling, the concept of marriage is defined first. What are the real responsibilities associated with it?
Continuing his talk, he said that 'arranged marriage is the most common practice among us. Therefore, when the newlyweds get a chance to meet each other for the first time, they are told how to talk and communicate. Similarly, it is said to conduct blood tests before marriage so that hereditary diseases and thalassemia can be prevented or informed.
Director General of the Department of Population Welfare, Taman Rai, believes that in our society, it is considered bad to talk about many details of marriage. The first responsibility of parents is to talk to their children about complex aspects of the practical life ahead. A mother should talk openly with her daughter. In pre-marriage counseling, the importance of Nikah Nama is explained as it is a contract document. It should be read carefully by boys and girls. And they should know what conditions they can put in it. This is the most important topic that people who get married do not know at all.
Thaman Rai said that now psychologists are being recruited in all the districts of Punjab for pre-marriage counselling. And soon this facility will be available to people in every district.
How is pre-marriage counseling working?
The Departments of Welfare and Population in all the four provinces of the country are now working on premarital counseling such that youth friendly health centers have been set up within family clinics in major hospitals where this facility is available.
While the federal government is working on various methods in collaboration with the World Health Organization and the development sector. One of them is a mobile application called Aazaan.
How is awareness being spread to the youth for pre-marriage counselling? Answering this question, psychologist Anza Javed says, “We hold sessions in colleges. After which the students themselves reach us and tell their problems. Similarly, sessions are given to people in hospital wards, especially in gynecological wards, so people start contacting themselves, sometimes we face difficulties. As the principal of a government college had criticized why this awareness campaign was held there.
DG Thaman Rai says that pre-marital counseling has evolved in the Department of Population Welfare as the concept already exists all over the world. The welfare of the population after marriage is more important than the awareness of people before marriage.
According to a report by the National Institute of Health, 2.2 million babies are lost before birth every year in Pakistan. One of the main reasons for this is lack of awareness about reproductive health.
Jawaria Ejaz says that a lot of work has been done in this area in the last two years due to international aid. Pilot projects were started in which every school of thought was included so that there was no ambiguity.
The marriage counselors who were trained in Lahore informed more than 450 couples about the most important topics before marriage. Now the mobile application has also been launched. Which will help in reaching the youth.
Sharing an incident, he said that in the Jhang area, community workers identified a child who recited Naat very well. He was only eleven or twelve years old. After that, he suddenly stopped attending community activities.
Realizing the lack of the child, when contacted at his home, the child said that he had committed a sin and his beautiful voice was taken back by God. But his voice had changed biologically as he stepped on the threshold of adulthood. There is a large network of community workers in Pakistan and all these methods are important for pre-marriage counseling which should start at the threshold of adolescence.
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