Balochistan Point Voice of Nation
QUETTA: National Nutrition Survey (NNS) 2017-18 is going to be conducted by National Nutrition Wing, Ministry of National Health Services Regulation with technical support of UNICEF and Nutrition Cell Balochistan. This was shared in1st Provincial Technical Committee Meeting on NNS 2017–18 , held today on November 7th, 2017.
For proper management of this survey, at National level the steering committee and technical committee including relevant representatives with their TORs has been notified. While Provincial committee has also been formed and notified vide Health Department, Government of Balochistan.
Dr. Sher Baz (Survey Coordinator-MoNHSR & C, Mohammad Siddique (Additional Chief of Health & Nutrition-P&D Department GOB, Dr. Ali Nasir Bugti (Director/Head of Nutrition Cell Balochistan, Mohammad Ali Khan (Research Manager- Agha Khan University) were present at the event.
Dr. Ali Nasir Bugti ,Director/Head of Nutrition Cell Balochistan.
It was discussed that objectives of National Nutrition Survey were to Assess the nutrition status of the population in Pakistan with a primary focus on children under five, adolescent girls and women of child bearing age and examine nutrition sensitive elements which affect the nutrition status including food security, gender empowerment, poverty/equity markers and Access to safe drinking water, hygiene and sanitation facilities.
Water quality testing will also be carried out during the survey in collaboration with Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) where the Parameters such as microbiological contaminations, PH, total hardness, TDS, fluoride, nitrate, iron and arsenic will be determined. PCRWR will impart specific trainings to field teams for water quality testing.
The role of National Complementary Feeding Assessment (NCFA) was also discussed in the meeting. It was said that the purpose of NCFA was to understand the root causes and behaviors with respect to suboptimal feeding practices and also to explore the acceptability and economic feasibility of possible options to address these. NCFA will also enhance the quality of information collected by capturing gender and age disaggregated information and thereby informing equitable policymaking and planning.
Staff Reporter
Published in The Balochistan Point on November 8, 2017
