Brig Naila Azam (R),Dr Mehwish Riaz and Dr Fatima Ali Raza attended the National consultation for IFA bottleneck analysis in Marriot Hotel, Islamabad on 17th December 2020.Meeting was organized by MoNHSR&C ,UNICEF and WHO. Department of Community Medicine has been engaged with Nutrition wing of Health Ministry in launch of National Nutrition Guidelines and Pakistan Adolescent Nutrition Strategy and Operational plan
Adolescence is the best time to prevent the onset of nutrition-related chronic diseases in adult life. Adolescents constitute 22% or more than 40 million of Pakistan’s population. Many macronutrients and micronutrients related deficiencies have a negative impact on growth and development during adolescence. Maternal antenatal IFA supplementation will significantly reduce neonatal and under-five deaths in Pakistan
Mixed method study was conducted by consultant to rule out bottlenecks of IFA supplementations. Comman bottlenecks for four domains were identified as
ü SUPPLY-availability of commodity, HR and accessibility
ü DEMAND-Initial utilization and continuous use
ü QUALITY-coverage
ü ENABLING ENVIRONMENT-social norms, policy, budget, governance
Representatives from all provinces representatives confirm the bottleneck identified by research. Provincial representatives actively participated in the activity and after detailed discussion with members and consultation, they finally presented their conclusion. Brig Naila Azam with her team members represented Punjab province and effectively delivered their group discussion