Reducing stunting in children under 2 years through Conditional Cash Transfer Program

Government of Pakistan through Ehsaas Program commits to prevent stunting in children under 2 years of age) through increased uptake of Health and Nutrition services among 0.5 million most vulnerable families (including pregnant and lactating woman and children under two by 2023. Following a commitment to prioritize stunting in the maiden speech of Prime Minister Imran Khan to the nation, the Ehsaas Nashonuma Program was developed and is now being implemented; the program addresses stunting through cash transfers conditional on consumption of specialized nutritious Food, quarterly immunization, antenatal/postnatal visits and attendance of health awareness sessions. Progress will be assessed through growth monitoring of 0.5 million children under 02 years of age and program's impact evaluation. 50 centers have been opened to date, in 14 districts of the country, which are the most disadvantaged on the human development index ranking of districts. The government of Pakistan has committed 34 billion of indigenous resources over a 3-year period for this program. Ehsaas Nashonuma is one of the components for funding under the World Bank's post-pandemic CRISP program, which seeks to advance Pakistan's social protection system to make it an adaptive and crisis-resilient. The World Program has been contracted as an implementing partner to assist with Ehsaas Nashnuma's execution in partnership with Provincial Health Departments.