PIP: Responding to the challenge posed by its population problem, Pakistan's national leadership gave the highest priority to family planning in its socioeconomic development plan. In Pakistan, as elsewhere in the world, the first family planning effort originated in the private sector. The Family Planning Association of Pakistan made a tentative beginning in popularizing family planning in the country. Some clinics were opened and some publicity and education were undertaken to emphasize the need for family limitation. It was recognized soon that the government needed to assume the primarily responsibility if family planning efforts were to be successful. For the 1st plan period, 1955-60, about $10 million was allocated by the central government in the social welfare sector for voluntary family planning. The level of support continued on the same basis during the 2nd plan, 1960-65, but has been raised 4-fold in the 1965-70 scheme of family planning. Pakistan's Family Planning Association continues to play vital collaborative roles in designing and pretesting of prototype publicity material, involvement of voluntary social workers, and functional research in the clinical and public relations fields. The real breakthrough in the program came with the 3rd 5-year plan, 1965-70. High priority assigned to family planning is reflected by the total initial budget of Rs.284 million (about $60,000,000) for the 5-year period. Current policy is postulated on 6 basic assumptions: family planning efforts need to be public relations-oriented; operations should be conducted through autonomous bodies with decentralized authority at all tiers down to the grassroots level, for expeditious decision making; monetary incentives play an important role; interpersonal motivation in terms of life experience of the clientele through various contacts, coupled with mass media for publicity, can produce a sociological breakthrough; supplies and services in all related disciplines should be available at the doorsteps of the people; and training, evaluation, and research should be multidimensional and continuous as an integral part of the program. The Central Family Planning Council as the highest autonomous tier formulated basic policy for the Pakistan program. Planning, evaluation, research, and coordination are its main responsibilities. As ignorance and cultural inertia can be overcome only by personal motivation, individual contacts are of high value. Family planning clinics vary in size and capability according to local requirements. The various categories include full-time clinics, part-time clinics in both urban and rural areas; and IUD camps arranged by family planning officers and operated by mobile teams. The provision of monetary incentives is a vital element in the program. Family planning is no longer taboo in Pakistan. There has been a sociological breakthrough, and inhibitions and reservations are fast disappearing.