The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has embarked on an 18-month pilot nutrition intervention rural mothers and infants project, using a high protein blended food mix fortified with vitamins and minerals.
This is the first project in Pakistan to field test a complementary food. The success of the project may lead to local production so that a cheap weaning food becomes available for rural children.
The pilot project will start in selected government health facilities in rural areas of district Hyderabad in Sindh.
The project will cost $1.8 million during the pilot phase which will be implemented in partnership with the Sindh health department, National Programme for Family Planning, and the Primary Health Care and the Aga Khan University Department of Paediatrics.
In view of the importance of the project, Canadian organisation, 'The Micro-nutrient Initiative' has also agreed to become a funding partner with the WFP in this endeavour.
The blended food when coupled with reproductive health care and nutrition messages, aims directly at improving the dietary intake of expectant and nursing mothers and their infants.
There is a possibility of introduction of a locally produced, low cost blended food to be used as a weaning food, which is currently not available in the market.
In Pakistan, hunger and poverty denies expectant and nursing mothers the chance for basic mother and child health care which has enormous future costs for the society.
Of the five main causes of high maternal mortality in Pakistan, three are directly related to malnutrition.
The depletion of a woman's body resources increases the risk of giving birth to an infant with a Low Birth Weight (LBW). This, in turn, leads to an intergenerational cycle of malnutrition and poor health.
These problems are preventable through access to nutritious food simple health care technology, appropriate antenatal care, and health and hygiene education.
The project is designed as operations research which will test and study the acceptability of the fortified blended food as a food supplement by the beneficiary communities and whether beneficiaries will be willing and able to purchase a similar locally produced fortified blended food.
Main target beneficiaries would be pregnant and nursing mothers and their infants, who will receive a monthly ration of five-kg of fortified blended food starting at sixth month of pregnancy.
At each monthly, the visit to the rural health centre, health check-ups, vaccinations, and appropriate health messages for each stage will be given to the mothers.
For infants, the supplement will be given from six months up to 18-month of age, and will be combined with monthly growth monitoring and care advice from the local lady health worker.-PR
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