US reaffirms pledge to help Pakistan address malnutrition

ISLAMABAD: A spokesperson for the US mission in Islamabad has said Washington will continue working with Pakistan to address the malnutrition crisis.

Millions of Pakistani children are at risk of dying from malnutrition, Jonathan Lalley said on Saturday, adding that the 2022 floods devastated the lives of millions, with women and children hit especially hard.

“Every Pakistani child deserves the opportunity to grow up, to be healthy and strong, and to reach their full potential,” he emphasised.

The spokesperson said out of the $215m provided by the US for flood relief and recovery, nearly $100m has been spent on malnutrition.

The US government has partnered with the UN’s World Food Programme to provide emergency food and nutrition.

With Unicef, “we treated nearly 135,000 malnourished children, provided pre-natal care to some 74,000 pregnant women, and offered essential healthcare services,” added Mr Lalley.

The US and World Health Organisation (WHO) have established 12 nutrition stabilisation centres across Balochistan and Sindh to provide essential health services.

Earlier, US Ambassador Donald Blome delivered 486 tonnes of ready-to-use therapeutic food to treat an additional 39,000 children, the official added.

So far, the US has delivered emergency therapeutic food to more than 317,000 Pakistani mothers and children and enabled 779,000 front-line healthcare workers to provide nutrition counselling to parents and caregivers to prevent malnutrition.

According to the UN, the malnutrition crisis in Pakistan is a complex, multi-sectoral problem, and the country’s progress in addressing this issue over the last decade has not been encouraging.

Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2024