A program to prevent stunting among children in Balochistan was launched by the UN's World Food Program (WFP) in partnership with the provincial government's Planning and Development Department in Quetta on Thursday.

The three-year project, to be implemented in Pishin district, will provide nutrition support to more than 20,000 pregnant and nursing women and children under five years of age.

The WFP reports that malnutrition rates in Balochistan are alarmingly high, as more than half of all children under five are stunted in the province. Children of the province have low growth for their age and 16 per cent of the population is malnourished. Further, anaemia affects more than 50pc of the children and three-quarters of pregnant and breastfeeding women.

Recent research by the WFP indicates that malnutrition in Pakistan results in an annual loss of 3pc of GDP — approximately $7.6 billion per year — and impacts productivity.

The government is keen to address the issue of malnutrition in the province on priority basis, said Balochistan Minister of Health Mir Rehmat Saleh Baloch. "Balochistan is the first province to pass a bill in favour of breastfeeding, as we are going to pass a bill in context of malnutrition to ensure quality food supply in the province."

"Balochistan is not a poor province, the problem here is that it only lacks skills and authority to utilise its own resources," Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination Director Nutrition Dr Baseer Achakzai said while addressing to the participants.

"Nutrition has been a core problem in Balochistan for the last 70 years. Balochistan, being the centre of CPEC [the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor] needs to produce human resources with brains, which can not be possible with such low nutrition. We have to overcome this major problem even if it takes billions of rupees," Dr Achakzai said.

The new initiative, which aims to break the inter-generational cycle of stunting and malnutrition across Pishin district, is supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and is aligned with the Government of Pakistan's Vision 2025 and global nutrition targets under the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) movement.

The program will be implemented in 22 Union Councils of Pishin and engage more than 188 female health workers in providing the WFP's ready-to-eat nutritious products along with key behavioural change messages to arget groups.

The project will be implemented in collaboration with the provincial nutrition cell, the provincial Lady Health Worker program and the Health Department of Balochistan,

Other collaborating partners including UNICEF, the World Health Organisation and the provincial People's Primary Healthcare Initiative, which will provide technical and implementation support.