Reduce Stunting in Under-5 Children by 8.2% in 5 years

In five years, the targeted 67 high-burden districts of the country will be covered for nutrition-specific, preventive and therapeutic interventions. The aim is to start from the cohort of children during pregnancy and support vulnerable mothers and children for the first 1,000 days (90% of children under 5 years of age and 90% of pregnant and lactating women [PLWs]). Moreover, adolescent girls (aged 10 to 19 years) enrolled in schools will be reached with the support of education departments, and those out of school will be reached through community-based health workers (CBHWs), including Lady Health Workers (LHWs)/Nutrition Counsellors.

Specific goal:

Tackle malnutrition-induced stunting in Pakistani children through improved nutrition status of the population, especially adolescent girls, PLWs and children under 2 years of age through well-informed, coordinated and effective government leadership.

Project objectives:

1. Reduce stunting to 32.0% from 40.2% in five years, with an average of 1.0% reduction in the first two years (years 1 and 2) and 2.0% in the next three years (years 3, 4 and 5).

2. Reduce wasting to 10.0% from 17.7%, with an average of 1.5% reduction per year.

Specific outcomes:

The above specific goal of the federal nutrition programme will be achieved through the proposed project, aiming at two specific outcomes.

1. Reduced stunting among children under 5 years of age in the targeted high-burden districts by improving the nutritional status of adolescent girls, PLWs and children under 2 years of age.

2. Sustained, conducive policy environment and the programme response to address malnutrition-induced stunting created.

The project has five outputs (components):

Output 1: Strengthening community-based nutrition services through LHWs and other community-based workers (eg, CBHWs and Nutrition Counsellors).

Output 2: Strengthening primary healthcare institutions for nutrition promotion and maternal, infant, and young child nutrition as well as integrated management of acute malnutrition, including management of moderate malnutrition among PLWs.

Output 3: Strengthening health institutions for in-patient care and treatment of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) and SAM with complications.

Output 4: Addressing micronutrient deficiencies.

Output 5: Strengthening institutional arrangements for the implementation of the project.