HEC, SUN movement unite to battle malnutrition

Food security and nutrition are important areas for research activities, says HEC director

The country’s top higher education body and a United Nation-backed movement for nutrition have agreed to join hands to create advocacy and promote research to combat malnutrition in the country.

The development took place during a meeting between officials of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) Executive Director Dr Arshad Ali and the UN Assistant Secretary General and Scale Up Nutrition (SUN) representative Gerda Verburg along with a team of the Committee on Nutrition at the Commission Secretariat on Wednesday.



Dr Ali said that HEC has been promoting research on solutions to social issues, adding that nutrition and food security were key areas which require greater research.

He assured the SUN team of cooperation in advocacy and promotion of nutrition through the higher education sector. He stressed the need for coordination between academia and private sector on awareness about the importance of nutrition, particularly for women and children.

The HEC official urged the Committee on Nutrition and HEC Curriculum Committee to discuss how to promote the significance of nutrition and underlined the need for devising an action plan to move forward.



“Execution of such plans needs to be ensured in letter and spirit,” he concluded.

Verburg said that a transparent system needs to be developed to concentrate on health insurance of employees of an organisation. Expressing concerns over malnutrition among women, she stressed the need for focus on the availability of nutritious food for women and children.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 13^th, 2017.