Malnutrition in Pakistan: CCI agrees to launch Rs350bn project to tackle starvation, stunting

ISLAMABAD: In order to tackle the prevalent malnutrition in Pakistan, the Council of Common Interests (CCI) on Wednesday agreed to launch a Rs350-billion, five-year project to tackle dietary conditions, including starvation and stunting.

Titled "Tackling Malnutrition Induced Stunting in Pakistan," the development project will run through 2025, with 50% of the cost to be borne by the federal government. The funds will be distributed equally among the provinces, a press release issued by the Prime Minister's Media Wing read.

The CII's decision came during the constitutional body's 43rd meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan and attended by Murad Ali Shah, Jam Kamal Khan, Mehmood Khan, and Usman Buzdar, the respective chief ministers of Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Punjab.

The project would target 30% of Pakistan's total population — including 15 million women of the reproductive age group and 3.9 million children under the age of two years — through nutrition interventions.

Tasks under the "Tackling Malnutrition Induced Stunting in Pakistan" project were divided among the federal government and its respective provincial counterparts. The Centre, it was agreed, would provide capacity building of new and existing healthcare workers, nutritional supplementary commodities, and research and monitoring.

The provinces, on the other hand, would contribute to the implementation through involvement of existing community and lady health workers, as well as target population identification, programme management, institutional arrangement, and evaluation and data-sharing.

The CCI approved the KP government's request for one-time permission for the substitute arrangement of one exploration block with another prospective block within the province. The green signal was given on the condition that commitments accruing out of previous award of block should be completed, with the Petroleum Division to incorporate a time limit for such swap so that future requests were catered for.

It also reviewed implementation status of previous decisions.

The CCI, while taking into account the importance of forming a consensus on Pakistan's energy issues, decided that the next meeting be scheduled for the first month of 2021 to finalise issues relating to the costs of electricity, gas, and fuel, as well as to resolve water-related matters.

PM Imran Khan emphasised that it was necessary to develop a consensus among the provinces on energy issues, which carried a national impact, for a win-win result to be achieved for the benefit of the Pakistani citizens.