Food alone cannot fix Pakistan's malnutrition crisis

Pakistan’s response to malnutrition often begins with food: supplements, fortified products or therapeutic feeding. Yet, 70 per cent of households are estimated to consume contaminated water, while around 25 million people still practice open defecation.

For a young child, repeated diarrhoea can reduce appetite, cause nutrient loss and damage growth. Malnutrition then weakens immunity, making further infection more likely.

Dr Saba Shahid explains what this cycle does to a child, while Dr Sumair Nasim examines why nutrition programmes under perform when primary healthcare, sanitation and community follow up remain weak.

The ACT For Nutrition conference — being held on September 2 and 3 at Islamabad’s Serena Hotel — brings together global humanitarian leaders, international institutions, economists, clinicians, lawyers, frontline organisations and provincial governments to confront Pakistan’s malnutrition crisis openly, understand its interconnected causes, and identify solutions with the urgency they demand.

View the agenda here.