2-day conference on Pakistan's nutrition crisis begins in Islamabad

A two-day international conference, ‘Act For Nutrition: The Emergency We Can No Longer Ignore’, is being held at Islamabad’s Serena Hotel on Pakistan’s persistent nutrition and stunting crisis.

With more than 40 per cent of children under five stunted, a maternal mortality rate of 155 deaths per 100,000 live births, and malnutrition costing Pakistan upwards of $17 billion annually, the country stands at a crossroads: continue on the current trajectory and surrender an entire generation’s potential, or choose a different future.

The two-day conference is bringing together policymakers, international development leaders, health professionals and nutrition experts to confront the burgeoning crisis and build momentum for urgent, coordinated action.

The focus of discussions will be on moving the national conversation beyond statistics towards practical, measurable interventions that can improve nutrition outcomes and protect Pakis­tan’s human capital and future generations.

View the full agenda here.

9:57am - Planning minister says quality of human resource critical for countries

In his remarks, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, the chief guest, conveyed Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s firm commitment to addressing malnutrition and stunting as as national development priority.

He said that as the planning minister minister, he spent much of his time with dealing with the architecture of Pakistan’s development.

“We discuss motorways, energy, dams and digital networks. All of these are essential, but there is one investment more fundamental than all others: the investment in human development,” he said.

“Ultimately it is humans and people who build nations. Therefore, the quality of human resource is critical for any country,” he said.

9:55am - Dawn CEO says nutrition crisis does not ‘look the same’ across the country

Dawn CEO azafreen Saigol Lakhani said the nutrition crisis did not “look the same in Tharparkar as it does in Chitral or in southern Punjab”, adding that the response could not be the same either.

“You will hear the economics of financing nutrition, the science of why children fail to grow even when food is technically available, and, I hope, the voices of the women and the mothers who carry the heaviest share of this burden and are so rarely asked to speak about it,” she said.

“With all those who have a role to play gathered around the same table, we have an opportunity to move from recognition of the scale of the problem towards urgent, coordinated and measurable action — action that can improve maternal and child nutrition, strengthen Pakistan’s human capital, and give future generations the opportunity to grow, learn and thrive,” she said.

“That is what this conference ultimately aims to achieve: to build a shared understanding of what needs to be done, and to begin charting a clear and practical roadmap for how we get there,” she added.

9:53am - Dawn CEO says nutrition not a problem for health ministry to solve alone

Dawn CEO Nazafreen Saigol Lakhani said that Pakistan loses close to $17 billion a year to the consequences of malnutrition, “more than what we typically borrow from the International Monetary Fund in any given year”.

“We spend enormous energy negotiating that borrowing. We spend comparatively little energy addressing a loss nearly as large, happening quietly, inside our own households,” she said.

“So this conference starts from a simple premise: nutrition is not a problem for a health ministry to solve alone. It sits at the intersection of health, agriculture, water, education, social protection, our economy and ultimately, our national security,” she added.

She said that countries such as Bangladesh, Peru, and Rwanda had demonstrated that stunting can be dramatically reduced within a generation, but “only when a nation decides, at the highest levels, that the future of its children is important enough to make it a collective priority”.

9:52am - Dawn CEO calls stunting crisis ‘a national emergency’

In her welcome remarks, Dawn CEO Nazafreen Saigol Lakhani said that four out of every ten children under the age of five in Pakistan were stunted.

“These are children whose physical growth and cognitive development may be permanently compromised – often before they have spoken their first words, entered a classroom or had the slightest chance to even dream of their own future,” she said.

“And when this is the reality for four out of every ten children in our country, we cannot merely call it a health problem. It is a national emergency – and a profound failure of our collective priorities,” she said.

9:45am - Conference begins

The conference has begun with the playing of the national anthem and the recitation of the Holy Quran.