Act for Nutrition conference: Expert decries lack of dedicated funding for nutrition

The second day of a two-day international conference, ‘Act For Nutrition: The Emergency We Can No Longer Ignore’, is being held at Islamabad’s Serena Hotel. The conference aims to address Pakistan’s persistent nutrition and stunting crisis. On the first day, experts at the conference warned that more than four in 10 children under five were stunted and malnutrition was costing Pakistan close to $17 billion annually. They also said that malnutrition was produced by a combination of poor diets, inadequate healthcare, weak water and sanitation services, poverty and other factors, making a multisectoral response essential. The two-day conference is bringing together policymakers, international development leaders, health professionals and nutrition experts to confront the burgeoning crisis and build momentum for urgent, coordinated action. View the full agenda here. 11: 49am – Non-profit head says people do not believe in the system Shahid Lone, the chairman of the Allah Walay Foundation, said that if policymakers and those responsible for implementing it did not put their “soul” into what they were doing, then what they were aiming for “would never work”. He acknowledged that his take was more “philosophical”. He highlighted that government officials say one thing on stage and another when they are behind the scenes. “We have policies, we have departments, but we have people who do not believe in the system, ” he said. He questioned how those who did not have vision or believed in their work could implement policies. 11: 37am – ‘Behaviour of healthcare providers pathetic’ Dr Farhana Memon, the programme director at the Reproductive, Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health, also criticised the behaviour of healthcare workers. “The behaviour of healthcare providers is pathetic, ” Dr Memon said, noting that most healthcare workers did not counsel patients on family planning, nutrition, or vaccination. “We have been trying to change the behaviour of the community for the past decade, but now it is time to change the behaviour of healthcare providers. ” “If a person or a woman comes into contact with you, please don’t waste the opportunity, ” she urged. 11: 34am – Expert decries lack of dedicated funding for nutrition Programme Director of Reproductive, Maternal, Neonatal, and Child Health Dr Farhana Memon decried the lack of funds to address malnutrition. “If you want to [translate] policies into action, you should have some cost, ” she said, adding that donors largely funded efforts to end malnutrition. “This is not the solution, ” Memon remarked, adding that nutrition should be treated as a separate entity. She further urged that the government must utilise every access point as an opportunity to counsel families about nutrition. 11: 25am – Session on multisectoral approach to nutrition begins A session on the multisectoral approach to nutrition has now begun. 11: 20am – KP CM says govt working on addressing malnutrition Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, in a video message, said that facilitation centres were being established to address malnutrition among pregnant women and young children. He said that the provincial government, under PTI founder Imran Khan’s vision, was working on this issue and others. He ended by thanking DawnMedia for highlighting malnutrition and other social issues. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi’s video message at the Act for Nutrition conference. — White Star/Tanveer Shahzad 11: 10am – Govt official calls for cohesive national narrative on malnutrition Dr Shabana Haider, member (population) in the Planning Commission of Pakistan, stressed the need for a cohesive national narrative in addressing malnutrition. “Do not go switching your national narrative; sometimes it is said that two kids are enough, sometimes it is one, and sometimes you ask women to time their pregnancies. Please develop a narrative that you can lead on and that everybody — from development partners to private sector — can converge on, ” she said. 11: 00am – Govt official says nutritional challenges cannot be addressed without acknowledging population dynamics Dr Shabana Haider, member (population) in the Planning Commission of Pakistan, said that nutritional challenges could not be addressed without acknowledging population dynamics and demographic dividends could not be reaped without investing in nutrition. She said that while Pakistan had done a lot on the policy side, the documents themselves were not enough. “We are very good at framing policies. .. sorry, excuse me, this has to change. .. let’s all recognise that our priority has not been population, ” she said, adding that population had been neglected as a subject. 10: 50am – KP govt official says malnutrition, family planning interlinked Dr Fazal Majeed, the director of nutrition at the Directorate General Health Services for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said that Pakistan had a stunting growth rate of 40pc, adding that it was 48pc in KP’s merged districts. He also said that almost 40pc of women of reproductive age were also anaemic, calling the figures “alarming”. “Malnutrition, family planning. .. are interlinked, ” he said. He said some of the barriers in KP were fragmented delivery points, geographical and security-related. Dr Fazal Majeed, the director of nutrition at the Directorate General Health Services for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, addresses the Act for Nutrition conference, — White Star/Tanveer Shahzad 10: 35am – Public health professional says history of Pakistan’s health programmes ‘one of isolation’ Dr Talib Lashari, a public health professional with the Sindh government’s health department, said that the nexus between nutrition and family planning was “well established but poorly practised in Pakistan”. “The history of Pakistan’s public health programmes and initiatives is one of isolation. All the programmes have been well-designed and, to some extent, properly funded, but they were implemented in isolation, ” he said. 10: 24am – Govt adviser says nutrition needs to be reclassified as a capital expenditure Adnan Pasha Siddiqui, the adviser to the minister of finance, said that nutrition needed to be reclassified as a capital expenditure rather than as an expense. “So this single accounting decision suppresses the investment narrative permanently. .. these are fundamental flaws we need to correct, ” he said. Adnan Pasha Siddiqui, the adviser to the minister of finance, addresses the Act for Nutrition conference. — White Star/Tanveer Shahzad 10: 17am – Govt adviser says lack of investment in nutrition hurts Pakistan’s GDP Adnan Pasha Siddiqui, the adviser to the minister of finance, said that population and resources are a “collective failure of capital investment”. “We are reflecting everything nutrition-related as a health expenditure. .. every rupee that is withheld from a pregnant women’s diet is a deduction from the country’s gross domestic product in the future, ” he said. He said that in the country, nutrition was divided across several sectors. Siddiqui said that the annual loss from malnutrition was $17bn. He said that in South Asia, labour productivity was suppressed because of nutrition. “And it is a structural liability to our sovereign credit profile, ” he said. 10: 08am – World Bank official says nutrition is viewed through ‘a human capital lens’ Sara Shahzad, the senior health specialist from the World Bank, said that the group had 10-year country partnership framework with the government of Pakistan focused on six priority areas, one of which was stunting reduction. “So the way the World Bank looks at population stabilisation and nutrition, specifically the stunting agenda, is through a human capital lens, ” she said. Talking about stunting, she said that 30-40pc of it occurred before a child was born. “So, the first 1, 000 days are absolutely critical but also the adolescence period, ” she said. Sara Shahzad, the senior health specialist from the World Bank, speaks at the Act for Nutrition conference. — White Star/Tanveer Shahzad 9: 58am – Expert highlights ‘experimentation’ in Pakistan’s population planning Dr Ali Mir, the country director for the Population Council, said that there was always a tendency in Pakistan of “making the same mistakes again and again”. Talking about Pakistan’s previous population reforms, he highlighted wavering political commitment and policy inconsistency. “We never explicitly had a population policy till 2002. It was always couched in development planning, ” he said. He said that due to this, Pakistan was constantly “experimenting”. Dr Mir said that now things were moving in the right direction, with the establishment of the Population Council. Dr Ali Mir, the country director for the Population Council, speaks at the Act for Nutrition conference. — White Star/Tanveer Shahzad 9: 55am – Doctor says nutrition is ‘not an isolated event’ Dr Saima Hamid, the programme and research lead at the Population Council, said that Pakistan’s population growth rate is at 2. 55pc. She said that in 28 years, the country’s population would double, putting a huge burden on resources. “This clearly is a challenge of not just the quantity but also the quality of diet. We need to ensure that diverse nutrition reaches those most vulnerable, ” she said. She also said that Pakistan’s domestic food security was on the decline, adding that “nutrition is not just an isolated event”. “One sector isn’t really responsible. .. there is a clear intersection of nutrition, food security, health, purchasing power, ” she said. 9: 52am – Session on population and resources has begun A session on how a nation cannot feed, educate or employ what it cannot count on sustaining has now begun. 9: 50am – 2nd day of conference begins The second day of the conference begins with a short film titled Leaky Guts from the Aga Khan University.

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