Parliamentarians from different political parties Friday made commitments to end hunger and malnutrition in Pakistan through implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 2.
In a national dialogue organized by Scaling Up Nutrition Civil Society Alliance Pakistan (SUNCSA, Pak) and Micronutrient Initiative (MI) here on Friday, the participants asked to counter major challenge of food scarcity to safeguard country’s future development and prosperity.
Opening the dialogue Dr Tanveer Ahmed, chairman of SUNCSA, Pak said that it was time for parliamentarians and policy makers to discuss challenges opportunities and way forward to address the issue of malnutrition and food insecurity in the country.
MNA Dr Ramesh Kumar was of the view that they should work together to address issue of malnutrition keeping away political differences.
MPA Saira Iftikhar said that she was working with different MPAs to form a parliamentarians group that would specifically work on issue of malnutrition. She said government of Punjab had adopted a multi-sector nutrition strategy and now developing a stunting reduction program for 11 affected districts of Punjab.
Dr Meher Taj Roghani, Deputy Speaker of Provincial Assembly Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said SDG 2 aimed at ending hunger and all forms of malnutrition by 2030.
Balochistan Minister Health Rehmat Saleh Baloch said they intended to expand Balochistan Nutrition Programme to non-covered districts. He said they had enacted protection and promotion of breastfeeding law and now they were taking concrete steps to implement this law by activation of infant feeding board.
SUNCSA Secretary Dr Naseer Muhammad Nizamani said that Pakistan was facing a malnutrition crisis that was amongst the worst in the world and had not improved for decades.
Discussing the role of parliamentarians in implementation of SDG 2, Cecilia Garzon, Head of Nutrition at the World Food Programme (WFP) Pakistan, stated that malnutrition was a one of the major issues in the country. She said about 67 per cent of the households could not afford a minimum nutritious diet.
Explaining the human impact of malnutrition, she stated “by year 2030, out of 34 million children less than five years of age, approximately 15 million children will be stunted, five million will be wasted and 21 million will be anemic”.
She further said that role of parliamentarians was of crucial value in addressing the menace of malnutrition through policy and decision making.
Nutrition should be the top priority and required actions needed to be implemented in short, medium and long terms, she remarked. The dialogue was attended by over 25 parliamentarians from national and provincial assemblies.
