necessary legislation regarding Universal Salt Iodization and Wheat Flour Fortification to ensure that the population gets necessary vitamin and minerals they need to survive and thrive.
Dr. Baseer shared that stunting prevention project are underway in four districts of Sindh with the support of WFP and Unicef, while the Wheat Flour Fortification Project will be launched nationwide with the support of DFID and MI later this year.
Dr. Khawaja Masuood Ahmed, national coordinator of the National Fortification Alliance (NFA), shared the nutrition indicators for Pakistan as per the latest National Nutrition Survey 2011 and Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey 2013-14. He emphasised that malnutrition cannot be addressed by the health sector alone as it is a multi-sectoral issue. Other sectors like water and sanitation, education, agriculture, and social protection also have to play their role to target malnutrition. The SUN movement, he added, is playing an important role in bringing all these sectors on one platform along with NFA.
Melanie Galvin, chief of nutrition at Unicef, highlighted the importance of Breastfeeding Week, which is celebrated globally from August 1-7, 2015. He narrated some of the field experiences from Pakistan where bottle feeding was noticed in the poorest and remotest of areas. She termed lack of awareness among general population as well health care providers as the key impediment and called for measures to urgently address this issue through awareness raising activities. She also requested the parliamentarians to enact necessary regulations and also lay down necessary mechanisms for enforcement of legislations and rules in place.
The parliamentarians expressed keen interest in nutrition issues and raised many questions for clarification. They assured the nutrition partners of all necessary support in enactment and enforcement of legislation for elimination of malnutrition from the country.
The seminar was also attended by chief of nutrition at the Planning Commission, representatives from World Food Programme, GAIN, FAO, the Micronutrient Initiative and civil society.
In the end, Dr. Baseer thanked the participants, especially the parliamentarians, for taking time out to discuss the issue of nutrition for people belonging to marginalised communities.