2nd day of Act for Nutrition conference begins

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

On the first day, experts at the conference warned that more than four in 10 children under five were stunted and malnutrition was costing Pakistan close to $17 billion annually.

They also said that malnutrition was produced by a combination of poor diets, inadequate healthcare, weak water and sanitation services, poverty and other factors, making a multisectoral response essential.

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.

View the full agenda here.

9:58am - Expert highlights ‘experimentation’ in Pakistan’s population planning

Dr Ali Mir, the country director for the Population Council, said that there was always a tendency in Pakistan of “making the same mistakes again and again”. Talking about Pakistan’s previous population reforms, he highlighted wavering political commitment and policy inconsistency.

“We never explicitly had a population policy till 2002. It was always couched in development planning,” he said.

He said that due to this, Pakistan was constantly “experimenting”. Dr Mir said that now things were moving in the right direction, with the establishment of the Population Council.

9:55am - Doctor says nutrition is ‘not an isolated event’

Dr Saima Hamid, the programme and research lead at the Population Council, said that Pakistan’s population growth rate is at 2.55pc. She said that in 28 years, the country’s population would double, putting a huge burden on resources.

“This clearly is a challenge of not just the quantity but also the quality of diet. We need to ensure that diverse nutrition reaches those most vulnerable,” she said.

She also said that Pakistan’s domestic food security was on the decline, adding that “nutrition is not just an isolated event”.

“One sector isn’t really responsible … there is a clear intersection of nutrition, food security, health, purchasing power,” she said.

9:52am - Session on population growth’s impact on family well-being begins

The session on population growth’s impact on family well-being has now begun.

9:50am - 2nd day of conference begins

The second day of the conference begins with a short film titled Leaky Guts from the Aga Khan University.