Daily Times

Director General Health Ministry of Health, Baseer Khan Achakzai Wednesday stressed provincial governments for formulating a long-term action plan to expand the scope of nutrition and rural people’s access to safe drinking water as every year around 53,000 Pakistani children die of diarrhoea after drinking unsafe water.

Talking to a private news channel, DG Health expressed his serious concern over the unsafe drinking water in far-flung areas of the country and stressed that provinces should increase their investment to support child nutrition programs.

He disclosed that the Ministry of Health with the collaboration of provincial governments would soon launch a campaign to improve maternal nutrition in rural areas by conducting awareness campaigns.

He explained that in 2024, 25 awareness campaigns will be held in 67 selected districts that report poor maternal nutrition indicators.

DG Health said that improving the knowledge and capacity of healthcare providers to address maternal nutrition issues and promote a collective responsibility approach is the need of the hour.

The key objective of the campaign is to raise awareness about the importance of maternal nutrition and improve the capacities of health workers in public and private sectors, he added.

Provinces should support the federal government with frameworks to plan, prioritize, and budget for safe water services, he said, adding, our aim is to improve the quality of water supply and ensure access to safe drinking water to population deprived of it.

Replying to a question, he said that in the advent of a natural disaster, diseases such as diarrhoea and typhoid spread rapidly and became a critical lifesaving humanitarian intervention.

He asked the provincial authorities to take the matter seriously, saying that not everyone could afford mineral water for drinking.

Punjab, KPK and Balochistan governments should approve water policy and laws related to improving water quality making it mandatory to check water once a year, he suggested.