49 Ehsaas Nashonuma Centers Established In 14 Districts: Dr Nishtar

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th May, 2021 ) :Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Poverty Alleviation and Social Protection Dr Sania Nishtar Wednesday said 49 Ehsaas Nashonuma centers had been established in 14 districts of the country in the first phase of Ehsaas Nashonuma Programme.

She said around 40 percent children in Pakistan suffered from stunting due to malnutrition and other reasons which deprived them of their natural height and mental capacity.

The programme, which included cash stipends, vaccinations, nutritional food packs and health related training courses for pregnant and lactating mothers, was aimed at controlling stunted growth in children, she said in a series of tweets.

Dr Nishtar said Ehsaas Nashonuma centers had been established at Tehsil level in Badin and Dadu in Sindh, and Kalat and Lasbella in Balochistan.

In in the initial phase, she said, the centers were set up in the Upper Dir and Khyber districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Rajanpur, Khanewal and other districts of Punjab.

Similarly, the Ehsaas Nashonuma centers had also been established at the Tehsil level in Bagh district of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, she added.

The SAPM said the programme had focused on improvement of health and nutrition of the children in the first 1,000 days. The registered pregnant and lactating mothers as well as their weak children were provided supplementary food packets, she said.

The ratio of quarterly stipends of the girl child had been kept higher than the boys under the Nashonuma programme.

The programme, she said, had made it mandatory for the women beneficiaries to participate in the awareness sessions which were organized exclusively in regional languages.

The staff at the registration desks registered pregnant and lactating women and their newborn children in the Nashonuma App, she added.

The staff also check weight, height and health of the mother and children in a detailed check-up to check if they face stunting issue or not.

She said that eight Nashonuma centers have already been established in three districts of Gilgit-Baltistan to prevent stunting.

Prime Minister, Imran Khan has announced the establishment of Ehsaas Nashonuma centers in all districts of Gilgit-Baltistan, during his visit of Gilgit on April 30, she added.