Karachi: Princess Sarah Zeid of Jordan has arrived in Karachi on a visit to Pakistan in her capacity as a Special Adviser to World Food Programme (WFP) on Mother and Child nutrition.
On her arrival at the Jinnah International Airport of Karachi, the Jordanian Princess was welcomed by Federal Minister for Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Shazia Marri and Karachi’s Administrator, Barrister Murtaza Wahab, who is also Law Adviser to Sindh Chief Minister. The Federal Minister presented the traditional Sindhi shawl Ajrak as a gift to the visiting princess.
During her trip, Princess Zeid will meet Sindh CM, Syed Murad Ali Shah, and other health officials of the province to keep herself abreast of the efforts to protect the health of pregnant women and infants in underprivileged areas.
She will also visit the centre of the Benazir infant nutrition programme in the Badin district.
The Jordanian Princess has come to Pakistan at time when Sindh launched the Child and Mother Support Programme to provide financial incentives to pregnant mothers of backward areas to get regular health check-ups and also ensure that the birth of the child should take place at a proper health care facility.
The programme, as per the guidelines of the World Health Programme, has been covering critical first 1,000 days related to the health of pregnant women from conception till the second birth of the baby. The Sindh government aims to implement the programme all over the province in two years.
Princess Zeid, an advocate for maternal and newborn health and nutrition, is working with the WFP to increase awareness of the specific needs, vulnerabilities and contributions of women, girls, children and newborns in humanitarian and fragile settings.
Collaborating with the Nutrition Division in the role of Special Adviser on Mother and Child Nutrition, she aims to bring attention to the criticality of good nutrition in the first 1,000 days from conception to a child’s second birthday, and champion the need for nutrition to be a core component of emergency response and integrated long-term support. Her visits to WFP operations in countries such as Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Bangladesh have helped bring visibility to the nutrition needs of women and children in these fragile contexts.
