Govt making all out efforts to address malnutrition issues in women, children: Fakhar

ISLAMABAD, Minister for National Food Security and Research Syed Fakhar Imam Wednesday said access to food at affordable prices was the basic right of every citizen and the government was making all out efforts to address the issues of malnutrition in women, children and adolescents.

Addressing the National Dialogue on Food and Nutrition Security, he said the government was also working on policies to improve the quality of life of every citizen and provision of food and nutrition were the top priority and center point of all policies, said a press release.

The food ministry was working to improve protein intake using the latest technologies in organic etiquette through fishing and meat, fruits and vegetables, he said adding we hope that the citizens would be prosperous with good quality and standard of living.

The event was organized by Scaling-Up Nutrition Civil Society Alliance (SUNCSA) in collaboration with the Nutrition International Pakistan and discussed the ways and means to solve malnutrition problems.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Shabina Raza, Country Director, Nutrition International Pakistan, said her organization was working to improve the nutrition situation across the country through a number of initiatives.

The interventions including salt iodization, iron fortification of wheat flours, and the addition of vitamin A and D into cooking oils to reach out the maximum population, she added.

She appreciated the role of the SUN Civil-Society alliance of more than 170 organizations that were continuously working to support policies, improve food insecurity and malnutrition.

Despite decades of interventions and investment, the malnutrition situation in the country had not much improved as several surveys inform us, she said adding this situation could only be turned around by making, the food and nutrition security a fundamental right, which we could witness that 106 countries of the world, had made a part of their constitution.

Regional Advocacy Adviser, Nutritional International, Dr Danish Irshad informed that the prime minister had reaffirmed his commitment towards addressing Pakistan’s malnutrition issues in his first speech.

Pakistan was losing $7.6 billion annually, which was equal to around 3 percent of local gross domestic product, he said adding parliamentarians were now well aware of the situation and considering saving this huge loss by developing conducive policies through cross-parties consultative mechanisms to improve food and nutrition security.

He expressed his hope that the the government would be sharing its strategy to address the food and nutrition security issue at the upcoming ‘Nutrition for Growth’ Summit to be hosted by the government of Japan in December 2021.

Syed Saeed Qadir, Nutrition Expert UNICEF Pakistan said the UNICEF was supporting the government over the years to address malnutrition and appreciated the present government’s nutrition focus and urged for implementation and resource allocation.

Dr Rozina Khalid, Nutrition Focal Person, Ehsaas-Poverty Alleviation and Social Protection Division apprised the forum that Ehsaas programme was based on four pillars in which we were addressing malnutrition under the human development segment.

In this regard, Pakistan National Nutrition Coordination Council was established at the highest level, which was chaired by the prime minister and also launched a pilot project named ‘Ehsaas Nashonuma’ in 14 districts across the country to provide social protection, especially for pregnant women and lactating mothers to improve their nutrition intake.