Experts urge govt to rethink moving Nutrition Wing to Planning Commission

ISLAMABAD: Amidst growing speculation that the Nutrition Wing at the Ministry of Health may be abolished and transferred to the Planning Commission, Unicef, World Health Organization and World Food Program representatives have urged authorities to reconsider the decision.

They argued that the Planning Commission lacked the technical and operational capacity needed to manage nutrition programs effectively. Experts from Pakistan’s leading health and research institutions, including Aga Khan University (AKU), along with international health scientists like Prof Zulfiqar Bhutta, have also called on the government to rethink the move, warning that it could severely impact efforts to combat severe acute malnutrition, stunting and wasting in the country.

“UNICEF, WHO and WFP representatives have expressed their concerns to Federal Secretary Health Nadeem Mahbub and newly-appointed Director General Dr Shabana Saleem, urging them to retain the nutrition-specific components within the Health Ministry. They emphasized that only the ministry had the technical and operational capacity to effectively promote and deliver nutrition within the health system,” a WHO official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue, told The News. He said while multi-sectoral nutrition coordination might be better handled by the Ministry of Planning and Special Initiatives (MoP&SI), the Health Ministry should continue to oversee specific nutrition programs.

International health organizations have highlighted that malnutrition in Pakistan remains alarmingly high, posing a significant public health challenge and stunting the nation’s development. Pakistan ranks 3rd globally in terms of stunting, with 9.8 million children affected.

Malnutrition costs the country 3% of its GDP approximately $7.6 billion annually and contributes to 177,000 child deaths each year, accounting for nearly 50% of child mortality. Survivors often suffer from poor cognitive and motor development, resulting in low educational attainment, reduced labour productivity and immense pressure on the public health system.

Criticizing the proposed move, health scientist and Founding Director, Centre of Excellence in Women and Child Health & Institute for Global Health & Development, AKU, Prof Zulfiqar Bhutta described the potential disbanding of the federal nutrition oversight as “throwing out the baby, the bathwater and the bathtub altogether.”

“While a multi-sectoral platform for discussing and coordinating national nutrition activities in Pakistan has long been in place, it has been largely ineffective. The existing Nutrition Department at the National Institute of Health, Islamabad, is not well-positioned to take on this role, nor has the Federal Planning Commission led from the front,” Prof Bhutta acknowledged. He warned, however, that dismantling the central coordination mechanism within the health platform would be difficult and costly to resurrect later.

Instead, Prof. Bhutta recommended strengthening both the federal and provincial health and nutrition directorates. “Effective programs to combat under-nutrition in women and children rely on multi-sectoral initiatives, with significant contributions from direct health and nutrition programs, such as maternal health, infant feeding and malnutrition treatment,” he said. “These efforts are supported by indirect initiatives, including improvements in water and sanitation, women’s empowerment, education, family planning and poverty alleviation. Coordinated action, along with effective monitoring, evaluation and accountability, is essential, with political will and good governance playing a crucial role.”

Globally, Prof Bhutta noted that despite the multi-sectoral nature of strategies to address undernutrition, health ministries and directorates remain crucial in delivering essential nutrition messages and services. “In Pakistan, while nutrition planning is primarily managed at the provincial level, health departments maintain oversight of maternal and child health, report key indicators like childhood stunting, maternal anemia and severe acute malnutrition, and integrate these efforts into broader health strategies,” he added.

When approached for comment, a senior official at the Ministry of NHS, R&C dismissed the reports of the Nutrition Wing’s abolition as “not correct,” explaining that discussions on various options for the nutrition wing were ongoing within the government.