Over 2.7m children under five facing acute malnutrition

LAHORE: Over 2. 7 million children under five in Pakistan face acute malnutrition, even as one province charts a promising path forward. A new analysis by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) warns that more than 2. 7 million young children across 45 rural districts in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Sindh are projected to suffer acute malnutrition before September 2026. Of those, an estimated 706, 000 children will face severe acute malnutrition, while around 232, 000 pregnant and breastfeeding women will require urgent treatment. Limited food access, recurring illness, and inadequate nutrition services are compounding the crisis. Yet Punjab is bucking the trend. The province’s school meals programme — now in its second phase — is delivering daily fortified milk and iron-enriched biscuits to 1. 1 million primary students across 13 high-risk districts. Experts say the initiative goes beyond feeding children, simultaneously boosting learning outcomes and strengthening local agricultural supply chains. The question Pakistan now faces: why hasn’t this model been scaled nationwide? Copyright Business Recorder, 2026

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