"Government, non-government and voluntary organisations engaged in these fields will have to keep up their efforts to attain the desired goals in the health sector by making the people, particularly the young generation, aware of family planning," she said.

She made the call while inaugurating a programme marking the World Population Day 2006 at Osmani Memorial auditorium.

The theme of this year's Population Day is "Tarun Projonmo Srestha Sampad (Young People: The Best Resources).

She said the fast growing population has been a big problem for Bangladesh as over 900 people live in here per squire kilometer although the population growth rate has declined from 2.01 percent in 1991 to 1.43 percent.

"Although the growth rate has come down, it's still exerting a huge pressure on landmass. As a result, people are not getting expected benefits from development programmes,' she observed.

The function was told that 50 percent of the world population is young, which is higher than anytime before. In Bangladesh, about 40 percent of its total population is young.

Khaleda said her government has taken initiatives to infuse dynamism into family planning, maternal and child health programmes through proper application of information technology. "And with this view in mind, these programmes are being brought under computer network at the district and upazila levels."

Terming excessive population as a problem, she said her government has strengthened the family planning programme throughout the country to check the high population growth.

At the same time, opportunities for education and various technical and vocational training are being expanded from primary to university level to turn the present population into human resources, she told the function, attended by ministers, representatives of development partners, family welfare and family planning officials.

Reiterating that her government has been fulfilling the pledges made to people, Khaleda said they brought all officers and employees of Family Planning Department under the revenue.

She mentioned that the jobs of 43,540 officers and employees of the grassroots level have been brought under the revenue from the development sector while posts of 706 more officers and staff in district headquarters have been included into the revenue sector.

She hoped that that the officers and employees would now perform their duties with fresh zeal and make meaningful contributions towards the welfare of the country and the people.

Listing a number of steps taken by her government for the development of the health sector, she said health and family welfare centres are being operated in the country's 3,575 unions out of 4,470.

Khaleda said the main aim of her government is to ensure welfare of the common people through quick economic growth, human resources development, poverty alleviation and social progress.

"We're moving ahead with specific plans in line with the millennium development targets for reducing maternal and child mortality rates, ensuring universal primary education, decreasing gender discrimination, empowering women and establishing women's right," she said.

"Our success in these areas have already been acclaimed by regional and international forums," she informed the function adding that despite various adversaries and limitations, the country is making better progress in family planning compared to many countries of the region. "But there is no scope to be complacent."

She said millions of people in the developing world are deprived of their basic necessities because of excessive population density. Cultivable land and space for housing are dwindling rapidly due to fast population growth making it difficult to meet the food requirement.

The PM distributed awards among best performers in seven categories - family welfare assistant, family welfare inspector, union health and family welfare centre, union parishad, upazila, mother and child welfare centre and NGOs -- for their contributions towards family welfare during June 2005 to May 2006.

Health Minister Dr Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, State Minister for Health Mizanur Rahman Sinha and outgoing UNFPA country representative Suneeta Mukherjee also spoke on the occasion.