Act for Nutrition conference: Expert says malnutrition underfunded despite ‘catastrophic consequences’
AI Summary
The Act for Nutrition conference in Islamabad highlights Pakistan's severe malnutrition crisis, with more than 40% of children under five stunted and significant economic losses due to underinvestment. Experts from the Gates Foundation and global nutrition organizations emphasize the need for coordinated, long-term investment to improve health outcomes and human capital.
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. 2:55pm - Nutrition not often framed as GDP statistic: Gates Foundation official Senior Programme Officer of Development Policy and Finance at the Gates Foundation Dr Ammar Malik, said that according to World Bank statistics, for every dollar a government invests in nutrition, it can get up to $23 back in the form of economic benefits. Questioning why such a high return on investment was still ignored, Malik said one of the issues was that nutrition investments are long-term, with returns becoming obvious years or decades later. He added another issue was that nutrition is seen as a standalone topic in such discussions, instead of framing it as a GDP statistic. “If I were to say to you that Pakistan is losing three per cent of its GDP because of lack of investment in nutrition, that is a much stronger argument for economic policymakers than it is to talk about nutrition.” 2:50pm - Gates Foundation official says Pakistan’s crisis is a ‘balance sheet problem’ Gates Foundation’s Dr Ammar Malik, who serves as the senior programme officer of development policy and finance, said the nutrition problem in Pakistan was a “balance sheet problem”. “The government of Pakistan can either now decide to spend more on nutrition today through our budgets, or we can pay the price of this lack of investment in the form of lost gross domestic product over the next several years or even decades,” he said. 2:45pm — ‘Nutrition has few dedicated champions’ Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition Executive Director Lawrence Haddad noted that another reason nutrition was underfunded was a lack of dedicated efforts towards the issue. “Why is this? Well, because malnutrition is multi-sectoral. It is the interaction of poor diet, poor water, poor sanitation, poor healthcare, and poor care in general, and so each of these areas has its own ministry.” “There is no ministry of nutrition,” he added. 2:42pm — Expert says malnutrition underfunded despite ‘catastrophic consequences’ The session on investing in nutrition began with a video note by Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition Executive Director Lawrence Haddad, who pointed out that malnutrition remained underfunded “despite its catastrophic impact”. “Forty five per cent of children’s deaths under three worldwide are due to malnutrition,” Haddad noted, adding that less than 1pc of international aid was spent on malnutrition. “It is quite invisible in many ways,” he added. 2:30pm — Conference resumes after lunch break 1:50pm - Lunch break The conference will resume at 2:30pm. 1:40pm- WHO official says ‘no bigger risk than lack of action’ Ellen Thom, the deputy representative for the World Health Organisation Pakistan warned that “there was no bigger risk than the lack of action” in addressing malnutrition. “As we speak, before I finish answering, [..] in the next three minutes, at least 14 children will have died across the world from causes related to maternal and child malnutrition,” Thom said, adding that such deaths were preventable and “we cannot afford not to take action”. She also noted that Pakistan was suffering an annual economic loss of $17bn due to stunting and malnutrition. Ellen Thom, the deputy representative for the World Health Organisation speaks at the conference. — White Star/Tanveer Shahzad 1:34pm - WFP official says malnutrition not just driven by poverty Thomas Conan, the deputy country director for the World Food Programme, said that malnutrition was not just driven by poverty. “It is also directly influenced and fed by poor access to services … health services and water and sanitation services,” he said. 1:15pm - Expert calls for focusing on adolescent nutrition Food security adviser on nutrition and social protection at GIZ Pakistan, Dr Faiza Wahab, raised the alarm at the “missing adolescent middle” during conversations about malnutrition. She said that nutrition discourse had been focused on the first 1,000 days of a child, but she stressed, “we are