Youth-led campaign to avert newborn mortality tees off

Islamabad: A call to action for individual and collective efforts aimed at averting morbidities and mortalities of newborns due to any preventable causes, primarily in the ‘First 1,000 Days—starting from the day of conception to the child’s second birthday’—was launched at a mega-event here Tuesday.

Titled ‘Umeedh Say Aagay,’ the campaign is a brainchild of the Nutrition Section/SUN Secretariat of the Ministry of Planning Development and Reform, and the Human Development Foundation (HDF).

A large number of government officials, development partners, and representatives of the civil society, academia, and media attended the ceremony, which had Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb as the chief guest.

Marriyum said even though malnutrition is widely prevalent globally, the campaign presents a window of opportunity for corrective measures. “By providing proper attention, care and good nutrition to the mother and child, physical and cognitive damage can be avoided and reverted,” she remarked. She hoped that the campaign would help raise awareness about the implications of malnutrition and its linkages to the multifaceted and vicious cycle of poverty.

Dr. M. Azeem Khan, Member Planning Commission, added that improving nutrition is a catalyst to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). “Pakistan is the first country to have adopted SDGs as Pakistan Development Goals to get real results; we all need to know how our work relates to, and can achieve progress across the SDGs. The first necessary step is to understand deeper connections between nutrition and various SDGs,” he highlighted.

Dr. Khalid Riaz, Chairman of the Board of Directors of HDF, explained how the campaign seeks to raise mass awareness about the alarming implications of malnutrition and to promote right nutrition during the first 1000 days in order to strengthen the foundation that lasts through a newborn’s entire life.

Saeed Ul Hassan, Executive Director of HDF, termed the campaign a “youth-led social movement” to promote early initiation and exclusive breastfeeding up to six months and continued breastfeeding up to two years in addition to age appropriate complementary feeding to achieve optimal growth, cognitive development and health for young children.

Aslam Shaheen Chief Nutrition/SUN Focal Point, thanked HDF and SUN Movement for their collective efforts to improve the nutritional status of mothers and children. Dr. Sadaf Sardar National Programme Manager of the SUN Secretariat emphasised the need to empower community with right information and knowledge.