Why Food Fortification Can’t Wait

Ali Nawaz Rahimoo

Tharparkar: Malnutrition is not just a health issue in Pakistan—it is a national crisis undermining our future. The food on our plates is shaped by income levels, market prices, and the broader food system.

Yet, beyond availability, awareness and policy matter most. 

Governments everywhere hold the power to change nutritional outcomes by educating families, making nutritious foods accessible, and ensuring that parents and caregivers have the knowledge and resources to nourish their children.

Nowhere is this more urgent than in the case of Pakistan’s children. A balanced diet—rich in vegetables, fruits, grains, dairy, and proteins—is the foundation of healthy growth and learning. Without it, the consequences are devastating: low blood sugar, anemia, stunted growth, and even impaired brain development. 

Stunting (low height for age) and wasting (low weight for height) are not abstract statistics; they are visible reminders of a society failing its youngest citizens.

The data should alarm us all. The National Nutrition Survey (2018) found that 40.2 percent of children under five are stunted and 17.7 percent are wasted, while more than half are anaemic. These are not mere numbers; they represent millions of children denied the chance to grow to their full potential. 

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They also highlight why Pakistan continues to struggle with high maternal mortality and child morbidity rates.

So, what is the way forward? The global evidence is clear: food fortification works. From Central America’s success in adding vitamin A to sugar and iron to flour, to the worldwide campaign of salt iodization, countries that embraced fortification have turned the tide against malnutrition. 

Pakistan too has seen progress through salt iodization, which drastically reduced goitre. But we have not gone far enough.

At home, wheat flour is being fortified with iron, folic acid, vitamin B12, and zinc, while edible oils are enriched with vitamins A and D. These efforts, however, remain piecemeal and voluntary. Unless Pakistan makes food fortification mandatory, affordable, and nationwide, we will continue to fail millions of citizens. 

New innovations like “Iron+,” a supplement developed in New Zealand that does not change the taste or quality of food, could be game-changers if adopted here—especially in milk and dairy products consumed widely by children.

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The stakes could not be higher. According to the FAO, 37.5 million Pakistanis are undernourished, and malnutrition drains 3 percent of GDP annually. This is not just a health problem but an economic one, eroding productivity, education outcomes, and poverty reduction efforts. 

Without urgent action, Pakistan will fall short of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and consign another generation to poor health and poverty.

We know the solutions. Expand mandatory fortification programmes, enforce strict monitoring and evaluation, and run mass awareness campaigns on nutrition. These are not luxuries; they are necessities. Every day we delay, we deny millions of children the chance to thrive.

Malnutrition is robbing Pakistan of its future. The question is whether our leaders will summon the political will to fight it.