ISLAMABAD – First Lady Aseefa Bhutto Zardari, Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho, and parliamentarians from across party lines on Monday endorsed a landmark joint declaration on gender, breastfeeding, and nutrition, committing to coordinated national action to protect child health, empower mothers, and remove systemic barriers to optimal breastfeeding practices.
The declaration was signed during the Parliamentarian Advocacy Forum on the Prevention, Protection and Support of Breastfeeding, jointly organised by UNICEF and the Women Parliamentary Caucus at the Pakistan Institute for Parliamentary Services (PIPS).
It calls for treating breastfeeding as a national investment in health and development, enforcing laws regulating the marketing of breastmilk substitutes, integrating breastfeeding promotion into the healthcare system, strengthening workplace protections for mothers, and mobilising communities to change harmful cultural norms.
First Lady Aseefa Bhutto Zardari, attending in her capacity as MNA from NA-207, signed the declaration, signalling strong political support for placing breastfeeding and maternal nutrition high on the national policy agenda.
Delivering the keynote address, Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho urged lawmakers from both houses to ensure that formula milk remains under the jurisdiction of the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP), insisting it is a medicine, not food, and must be strictly regulated.
She cited Sindh’s Protection and Promotion of Breastfeeding and Young Child Nutrition Act, 2023, as a model, noting her government resisted pressure from vested interests and even secured a favourable ruling from the high court.
She announced plans to hire lactation counsellors, provide multiple micronutrient supplements to pregnant women, and strengthen promotion of breastfeeding for the benefit of both mothers and children, warning that the rising incidence of heart attacks and strokes is linked to poor infant feeding practices.
UNICEF Representative in Pakistan Pernille Ironside urged federal and provincial lawmakers to replicate Sindh’s law nationwide, invest in gender-responsive health systems, and make breastfeeding a national priority. UNICEF Nutrition Chief Anteneh Girma Minas said the presence of the First Lady signalled the importance of the issue at the highest level.
Presenting evidence, Prof Jamal Raza, Executive Director of the Sindh Institute of Child Health and Neonatology, said low breastfeeding rates cost Pakistan US$2.8 billion annually, with over US$888 million spent each year on breastmilk substitutes.
He noted that exclusive breastfeeding stands at just 48.4 percent – far below the 60 percent target set by the World Health Assembly – and warned that formula feeding exposes infants to infection, malnutrition, and long-term risks such as obesity and cardiovascular disease.
Raising exclusive breastfeeding rates to 70 percent, he said, could save up to 14,100 children annually, prevent 2.8 million diarrhoea cases, and save US$55 million in healthcare costs.
Women Parliamentary Caucus Secretary Dr Shahida Rehmani emphasised the role of breastfeeding in reducing infant mortality and improving maternal health.
Pakistan Paediatric Association President Prof Masood Sadiq called for extending maternity leave to at least six months, banning advertisements of breastmilk substitutes on social media, introducing a federal breastfeeding law modelled on Sindh’s, and promoting kangaroo care in hospitals.
UNICEF gender specialist Fahmida Khan urged parliamentarians to work collectively to protect children from malnutrition, while UNICEF specialists Saba Shuja and Dr Mazhar Hussain presented data on Pakistan’s malnutrition crisis and the damaging effects of breastmilk substitutes.
The declaration commits lawmakers to advancing breastfeeding-friendly legislation, ensuring enforcement, integrating breastfeeding into all levels of the health system, and securing sustainable financing for maternal and child nutrition.
Lawmakers from the PPP, PML-N, PTI, JUI-F, and MQM – predominantly women parliamentarians – pledged to work together to shield Pakistan’s youngest citizens from the harmful impact of aggressive formula marketing.
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