NAP for childhood development on the cards: Ahsan

ISLAMABAD: Planning, Development and Reforms Minister Ahsan Iqbal said the government was preparing to develop National Plan of Action for childhood development to produce better human resource with healthier minds in the country.

Addressing a round-table conference on ‘Early Childhood Development in Pakistan’, the minister said a national level working group had been set up which would provide solid recommendation on the basis of its research regarding National Plan of Action for protection of childhood.

The round-table conference was organised by ministry of planning, development and reforms here Monday.The minister said the purpose of convening the conference was to deliberate upon a conceptual framework to strategise programmes and adopt system strengthening measures for improving physical, social, intellectual and emotional health of children in the country.

Ahsan said the economic indicator of Pakistan indicated that the country was among middle income countries but on the other hand the social indicators were alarming which put Pakistan among the least develop countries. He said Pakistan had the highest ratio of child mortality in the world while poor health, malnutrition and lack of breast-feeding to the infants were causing major health issues among children.

He said to ensure better healthcare for future generation the federal government was taking numerous initiatives.Later, participating in the round-table open discussion the panelists were of the view that Pakistan had one of the highest rates of first day deaths and stillbirths at 40.7 per 1000 births.

They informed that some mothers feel pressured to bear more children than they could support on locally available nutritious diet.However, in urban centres some mothers were obese yet malnourished from a diet rich in processed caloric dense foods that contain few micro nutrients.

The panelists further informed that chances of survival of a newborn child increases when breastfed within an hour of birth.According to Unicef and WHO, out of 10 less than two mothers engage in early breastfeeding in Pakistan and this is one of the lowest rates of breastfeeding in the world. The panelists also discussed promotion of breastfeeding, neonatal care, food-fortification, affordability of nutritious diet and early childhood psychosocial stimulation.

According to other report, the minister said out of $46 billion projects under CPEC, projects worth $18 billion had already hit the ground while $17 billion worth projects were in the pipeline.

Talking to press attaches to be posted abroad, he said the CPEC framework had been turned from a piece of paper into an investment of $46 billion.He said the CPEC initiative would not only benefit China and Pakistan but it would be beneficial for the entire region.