Fighting child and maternal malnutrition in Pakistan
The World Bank recently committed US$47.95 million to a project helping Pakistan’s Government improve the nutrition status of children under two years of age and of pregnant and lactating women. The project will support the scaling-up of well proven maternal nutrition interventions for women of child-bearing age by sharpening the nutrition focus of ante-natal visits and facilitating the provision of daily iron folic acid supplementation during pregnancy. All provinces in Pakistan are facing challenges of malnutrition—nationwide, 44 percent of children are stunted and 22 percent are severely stunted. Malnutrition rates are particularly alarming in the provinces of Balochistan and Sindh, where half of the children under five are stunted, and rates have worsened since 2001. While the project focuses initially on Sindh and Balochistan provinces, the long-term goal is to enhance national coverage through coordination of support between Pakistan's development partners.
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