Four in Ten Undernourished: UAF Conference Ends on a Warning

Key Points:

More than 40 per cent of children and women in Pakistan face malnutrition, the PHEC chairperson told the concluding session.
A Centre of Excellence in Nutrition has been proposed at the University of Agriculture Faisalabad.
The conference called for a coordinated national strategy and stronger Pakistan-Korea cooperation in nutrition.

FAISALABAD: More than 40 per cent of children and women in Pakistan face malnutrition, the Pak-Korea Nutrition Center’s two-day international conference at the University of Agriculture Faisalabad was told at its concluding session on Wednesday.

The two-day international conference was held under the theme “Advancing Nutrition through Partnerships & Policy” at the Centre for Advanced Studies.

Punjab Higher Education Commission Chairperson Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan said academia, research institutions and development partners had to play a stronger role against malnutrition. Persistent poverty and food insecurity made the challenge harder, he said.

Prof Iqrar Ahmad Khan said the centre had first focused on the supply side, agricultural production and a One Health approach.

It soon became clear that production alone was not enough in a country where over 40 per cent of the population faced malnutrition, he said.

He said the centre had laid a strong foundation for capacity building, reducing food waste and developing practical solutions to societal challenges.

Dean of the Faculty of Food, Nutrition and Home Sciences Prof Dr Imran Pasha proposed a Centre of Excellence in Nutrition at UAF to strengthen research, policy development and institutional collaboration.

He called for a coordinated national strategy involving federal and provincial departments, universities, research institutions and international development partners.

Prof Imran Pasha called for improved food-environment monitoring to support healthy food policies in settings that shape children’s food choices. Child and community nutrition should be integrated with the prevention of non-communicable diseases through a life-course approach, he said.

He expressed hope that the conference recommendations would form a practical foundation for the centre’s next phase and strengthen cooperation between Pakistan and South Korea.

Dr Arif Rehman, Chief of the Food and Agriculture Section at the Planning Commission; Ms Sodam Baek, Deputy Country Director of KOICA; Dr Jaehan Kim, Project Manager Consultant; Dr Benish Israr; and others attended the concluding session.

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