ISLAMABAD: The World Food Programme (WFP) of the United Nations announced on Monday that Princess Sarah Zeid of Jordan will arrive in Islamabad on Tuesday on a four-day visit to Pakistan.

In her role as a special adviser to the WFP on maternal and child health and nutrition, Princess Zeid will use the visit to highlight the importance of scaling up nutrition with focus on children and women.

She will visit a number of WFP-supported nutrition projects and see firsthand how WFP is supporting the government in addressing malnutrition, particularly stunting that affects 12 million, or two-thirds of children, in Pakistan.

She will be accompanied by officials of the Islamic Development Bank.

Though Pakistan has become a food surplus country and a major producer of wheat which it distributes to needy populations through various mechanisms, including WFP, a 2018 national nutrition survey showed that 60 per cent of the population still faces food insecurity.

This is due primarily to limited economic access by the poorest and most vulnerable, particularly women, to an adequate and diverse diet.

WFP is assisting the government in malnutrition prevention activities, enhanced social and public sector capacity to identify, target and assist nutritionally vulnerable populations. The target is that children under-5, adolescent girls and women or reproductive age, has improved nutrition in line with national targets for 2025.

Pakistan is making significant investments to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals and its national development programme — ‘Vision 2025’.

However, high levels of malnutrition, frequent natural disasters, political instability and a volatile security climate in parts of the country are challenges that continue to obstruct socio-economic progress.

Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2019