No focus yet on implementation of laws as Pakistan continues to face nutrition emergency

Islamabad
Like every year, the Global Breastfeeding Week 2015 teed off in Pakistan here on Tuesday with an advocacy seminar where parliamentarians and the civil society were reminded that the country is in a state of nutrition emergency, and that little efforts have thus far been made at the federal and provincial levels for enforcement of the ordinances and laws that can help wriggle out of the catastrophe in hand.
The Global Breastfeeding Week is observed once a year to highlight the importance of breastfeeding for health of neonates and infants. The theme for this year’s observation is ‘Breastfeeding and Work – Let’s Make it Work.’ The seminar was organized by the Nutrition Wing of the Ministry of Health with the support of Unicef.
Dr. Baseer Khan Achakzai, the head of the nutrition wing, highlighted the importance of nutrition for the well-being and progress of a nation. “Pakistan is in a state of nutrition emergency, and most of the country’s nutrition indicators are worse than those in sub-Saharan Africa. In spite of the fact that breast feeding culture was quite dominant in Pakistan, early and exclusive breast feeding for the first six months is still far behind in comparison to other countries in South Asia,” he stated.
Like every year, Dr. Achakzai repeated that the implementation of the Protection of Breastfeeding and Child Nutrition Ordinance, which was promulgated in 2002, and the Breastfeeding Rules, which were launched in 2009, is nowhere in sight. “Little efforts have been made for enforcement of these laws and regulations at the national and provincial levels,” he said.
Dr. Achakzai told the members that all provinces had prepared their Nutrition PC1s which were at different stages of implementation. Balochistan is slightly behind in this respect, and support from the legislature was required to speed up the process. He requested members of the parliament for 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.