ISLAMABAD: Senator Rubina Khalid, chairperson of the Benazir Income Support Programme, said the responsibility lay not just in providing financial assistance but also in helping families move from vulnerability towards dignity.

Addressing the session “Integrating Nutrition into Social Protection” at the ‘Act for Nutrition’ conference here on Wednesday, she said Pakistan was facing severe malnutrition among mothers and newborn children.

“We can no longer afford to look away, at the same time malnutrition places a huge burden on the economy,” she said.

She added that stunting was not only a health issue, but also a human capital and economic issue and a challenge to Pakistan’s future.

Senator Rubina Khalid added that the country lacked integration among programmes related to these issues and stressed that all relevant agencies and concerned stakeholders must work together so that every child in Pakistan had the opportunity to grow, learn and reach their full potential.

“Because every child we protect from malnutrition is not simply a life protected, it is the future protected, a family strengthened and a stronger Pakistan secured,” she said.

Meanwhile, Ellen Thom, deputy representative for the World Health Organisation (WHO) Pakistan, warned that there was no bigger risk than the lack of action in addressing malnutrition.

“As we speak, in the next three minutes, at least 14 children will have died across the world from causes related to maternal and child malnutrition,” Ms Thom said, adding that such deaths were preventable.

She also noted that Pakistan was suffering an annual economic loss of $17 billion due to stunting and malnutrition. The speakers highlighted that malnutrition was not driven by poverty alone. Thomas Conan, deputy country director for the World Food Programme, said malnutrition was also directly influenced by poor access to services.

“It is also directly influenced and fed by poor access to services such as the health services and water and sanitation services,” he said.

BISP Director General Dr Asim Ijaz spoke about the Benazir Nashonuma Programme (BNP), which, he said, had added a “nutritional and health layer” to the existing BISP registry.

He stressed that there existed a 1,000-day window for a child’s development, during which “irreversible damage can occur”. “This is why BISP changed its thinking in 2019,” he said. He added that this recognition was reflected in the launch of the Nashonuma pilot in 2020, which was then rolled out countrywide in 2021.

An expert addressing the session called for a focus on adolescent nutrition, as young girls were vulnerable to anaemia and iron deficiencies during adolescence due to rapid growth, hormonal changes and menstruation.

Food Security Adviser on Nutrition and Social Protection at GIZ Pakistan Dr Faiza Wahab raised the alarm over the “missing adolescent middle” in discussions about malnutrition.

She said the nutrition discourse had focused on the first 1,000 days of a child’s life and stressed: “We are really missing the middle, which is between childhood and motherhood.”

Published in Dawn, September 3rd, 2026