ISLAMABAD: United Nations World Food Program (WFP) welcomed King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center’s (KSRelief) assistance to support nutrition programs for women and children in Pakistan, the WFP said in a statement on Wednesday.
KSRelief supervisor general Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabeeah and WFP executive director David Beasley this week signed the cooperation agreement on the sidelines of a WFP executive board session in Rome to provide nutritional assistance to vulnerable groups in Pakistan.
The efforts will focus on 14 areas in the country’s northern regions, reaching over 66,000 people.
“In Pakistan, the contribution will ensure integrated and lifesaving nutrition services to more than 66,000 acutely malnourished children under five and to pregnant and lactating women as part of WFP’s program for community-based management of acute malnutrition,” the WFP said in a statement.
The UN agency said the services would be carried through the government’s primary health care system, using 186 health facilities.
Advisor at the Royal Court and Supervisor General of KSrelief Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Rabeeah (L) and Executive Director of the World Food Program David Beasley (R) sign agreement of food aid for Pakistan and Syria in Rome on Nov 16, 2021. (SPA)
The Saudi-based KSRelief provides humanitarian and development support to millions of beneficiaries in more than 49 countries. Pakistan is the fifth-largest recipient of the assistance and had received more than $120 million in aid since 2005.
The latest contribution would ensure specialized nutritious food for vulnerable women and children in 14 priority districts for a period of one year.
“It will also strengthen the capacity to screen and treat malnutrition in community health care facilities and enhance the preparedness and safety measures for targeted programs to prevent malnutrition,” the statement read.
