Sindh Assembly members want nutrition supplies to be treated as life-saving drugs

Delegation makes two-day field visit to Sukkur, Larkana and Kambar Shahdadkot

A group of Sindh Assembly members belonging to different political parties have pledged to work together to improve the functioning of local government councils and legislation to fight malnourishment in the province.

They appreciated the work being done in the area of rural development and economic empowerment of rural women.

The members of the Sindh Assembly were briefing the media after a two-day thematic field visit focused on rural development, local governance and nutrition, during which they visited Sukkur, Larkana and Kambar Shahdadkot.

The members included Haji Shafi Muhammad Jamot, Abdul Sattar Rajpar, Naheed Begum, Kulsoom Chandio, Saira Shahlyani, Farham Seemi, Dewan Chand Chawla and Naila Munir. It was arranged by an European Union-funded Subai Pakistan project to strengthen provincial assemblies of Pakistan in collaboration with other EU-funded projects of Sindh Rural Support Organisation (SRSO), Action Against Hunger and Action Aid Pakistan.



Briefing the media, the members said that during their two-day visit, they realised the need for legislation to include nutrition supplies in the list of essential and life-saving drugs as it will facilitate timely supply of nutrition supplement from other countries.

Currently, nutrition supplies are not exempted from customs duty which results in the delay of clearance of supplies which keep lying at the port for months and sometimes expire before reaching the needy children. Keeping in view the endemic problem of malnutrition in the province, they said legislation was necessary to save the lives of thousands of children.

The members visited the Nutrition Stablisation Centre at Shaikh Zaid Children's Hospital in Larkana and met the children under treatment for malnutrition. They demanded that nutrition supplies be produced within the country.



Speaking about their meetings with local government representatives, the members of the Sindh Assembly emphasised on the need to granting more powers, financial resources and autonomy to the local government councils. They agreed that development projects at the grassroots level should be implemented through local governments.

The members also held a meeting with over 200 rural women in Naseerabad where the women spoke about community development and women's economic empowerment projects of SRSO funded by the EU.

The members said they were pleased to see that the women in rural areas were taking initiatives for their economic and social environment. The rural women demanded improvement in health and education facilities, they said, adding that they would raise their voice in the Sindh Assembly about the issues they observed during their visit in the form of questions, legislation and call attention notices.