Call to focus on adolescent girls’ health

Islamabad:Country Director of Nutrition International Dr. Shabina Raza emphasised the critical need to focus on adolescent girls’ health, noting that the Social Protection Support Program for Adolescent Girls’ Nutrition will significantly contribute to reducing anaemia and promoting better nutrition outcomes.

“By integrating nutrition interventions into social protection platforms like BISP, we are addressing a major health challenge and empowering the next generation,” Dr. Shabina told the SOPRAN launching ceremony here.

The project, launched by the Benazir Income Support Programme in collaboration with the global organisation Nutrition International and financially supported by the German development agency GIZ, aims to provide nutrition support to 100,000 adolescent girls across Pakistan, enhancing their health and well-being through a comp­rehensive nutrition intervention. Dr. Shabina said the pilot project, running for one year, would not only provide Weekly Iron and Folic Acid Supplementation but would also enhance the availability of fortified wheat flour through local chakkis in three districts by strengthening the capacity of millers, developing market linkages, and supporting infrastructure for food fortification.

Director General of the BISP (NSER/CCT) Naveed Akbar said that the SOPRAN would leverage his organisation's existing Taleemi Wazaif programme, empowering girls to become "agents of change" within their communities. “This programme will provide weekly iron and folic acid supplements, nutrition education, and access to fortified wheat flour for adolescent girls and their families. It will be rolled out in public schools across seven districts—Shaheed Benazirabad, Faisalabad, Swat, Quetta, Kotli, Skardu, and Islamabad—aiming to improve their nutritional status and prevent anaemia,” he said.

Zeina Sifri of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Johanna Knoess of GIZ, and representatives of the German Embassy and the Federal Ministry of National Health Services commended the SOPRAN for its innovative approach, linking social protection with nutrition to address the significant nutritional challenges faced by adolescent girls in Pakistan. They said the initiative represented a step forward in ensuring better nutrition for vulnerable adolescent girls, ultimately contributing to the broader goals of public health and social empowerment in Pakistan.