Act for Nutrition conference: Experts call for food, nutritional security to be recognised as fundamental rights amid malnutrition crisis

A two-day international conference, ‘Act For Nutrition: The Emergency We Can No Longer Ignore’, held at Islamabad’s Serena Hotel, concluded on Thursday, with experts calling for food and nutritional security to be recognised as fundamental rights. The conference aimed to address Pakistan’s persistent nutrition and stunting crisis. As the conference came to a close, Dawn CEO Nazafreen Saigol-Lakhani, in a statement, said, “Pakistan’s nutrition crisis demands a coordinated response across health, agriculture, water, education, social protection and economic policy, tailored to local realities”.

On the first day , experts at the conference warned that more than four in 10 children under five were stunted and malnutrition was costing Pakistan close to $17 billion annually. They also said that malnutrition was produced by a combination of poor diets, inadequate healthcare, weak water and sanitation services, poverty and other factors, making a multisectoral response essential. The two-day conference brought together policymakers, international development leaders, health professionals and nutrition experts to confront the burgeoning crisis and build momentum for urgent, coordinated…