LAHORE: Healthcare professionals in both the public and private health system play key role in reaching, engaging, and influencing women and their gatekeepers -husbands, mothers-in-law, on essential health and nutrition actions, said Dr. Asif Niazi, Deputy Director IRMNCH &Nutrition Program Punjab during a technical session “Role of healthcare providers and frontline health workers for improving maternal nutrition”, organized by Nutrition International at the 5th PMS Biennial Conference by Pakistan Medical Association on 11-13 November.
Addressing the event, Dr. Sher Shah Syed, President-Pakistan National Forum on Women’s Health shared that Pakistani Women of Reproductive Age (WRA) bear the triple burden of malnutrition – undernutrition, overweight/obesity, and micronutrient deficiencies.
Inadequate nutrition particularly during pregnancy can have a range of adverse effects on the health and well-being of both the mother and the child – maternal mortality, preterm birth, baby low birthweight, stunting, wasting, etc.
Speaking at the occasion, Dr. Irshad Dansih, Senior Advocacy Advisor, at Nutrition International stated that healthcare professionals including frontline health workers can play an essential role to educate and counsel pregnant women for making informed decisions during their pregnancy.
Sharing Nutrition International’s commitment to improved maternal and child nutrition, Dr. Danish said that, this year marks three decades of Nutrition International works to fight against malnutrition. Nutrition International is a long-standing partner of the Government of Pakistan to address malnutrition issues in the country.
We are specifically focusing on women and children for addressing micronutrient deficiencies, through Vitamin-A, Iron Folic Acid supplementation, and large-scale food fortification interventions across Pakistan, he added.
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Sharing an overview of Maternal Nutrition Strategy Pakistan 2022-27, Dr. Khawaja Masuood Ahmed, Nutrition and National Fortification Alliance said that Federal Government developed the strategy with the support of all relevant stakeholders and the provincial government to support optimal nutrition, health, and well-being of all women in Pakistan, as well as prevent all forms of malnutrition among vulnerable women during preconception, pregnancy, and postpartum.
The strategy focused to enhance Maternal Nutrition (MN) outcomes through creating and sustaining an enabling environment, a comprehensive MN package for ANC & PNC, integrating MN interventions across different sectoral programs and guiding evidence-based programming through monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and learning.
Need of Integrating Nutrition
Discussing the need of integrating nutrition counseling at the first point of contact in healthcare delivery, Dr. Muhammad Aslam Bajwa, Associate Professor Fatima Memorial Hospital (FMH) Medical College that poor healthcare-seeking behavior, as well as suboptimal health provision behavior of doctors, leads to poor health and nutrition outcomes.
Healthcare providers command the trust and respect of the community; thus, they have a greater responsibility to counsel the patients and their families for positive and healthy behaviors and motivate them to adhere.
Highlighting dietary and caloric recommendations during pregnancy, Dr. Farhana Shahid, Country Nutrition Advisor for Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) said nutrition counseling for women during pregnancy is important however the healthcare providers need to be equipped with the relevant knowledge and improved counseling skills to deliver the message effectively.
She added that we should not only emphasize the diet during pregnancy but a balanced diet, regular exercise, maintaining appropriate weight gain, and timely mineral and vitamin supplementation.
