Strong women make a strong nation. And women are made strong by several factors. Women can be empowered through education. Women can be empowered through a business approach. Women can be empowered by giving equal rights to men. But the best way to empower women is to make them stronger from the inside through a balanced, diversified, and nutritious diet. But it’s not possible as per the current scenarios of women’s nutritional status in Pakistan. But it can be made feasible if the women are provided with good nutrition, a healthy environment, and sufficient food.

A strong state needs strong women.

According to the NNS survey 2018, about 14.4% of women (15-49 years) are underweight, 41.7% are anaemic and about 79.7% of women are affected by Vitamin D deficiency. The other deficiencies of Vitamin A, Calcium, and Zinc also prevail in Pakistani women. This can be considered as the result of food insecurity characterised by the lack of accessibility, affordability, and availability of sufficient and nutritious food. Here also comes the role of agriculture for sufficient and quality food production.

Malnourishment of Pakistani women due to unavailability and inaccessibility of quality food is also putting stress on the GDP and economy of the state. It is understood that a weak woman will give birth to a malnourished baby. Eventually, that individual will be more vulnerable to diseases and will live a less productive life, putting a burden on the country’s economic factors. So, the nourishment of women is important from the very first day if we want to shift Pakistan from the track of developing to a developed state.

Is it really food insecurity the cause of malnourished women?

The answer to the above question is “No”! Food insecurity leads not only to malnutrition but also to a lack of quality and balanced nutrients. The decision on food quality starts from the very beginning, such as the selection of seed. A good quality seed will obviously produce a high-quality crop with ample amounts of nutrients. All the factors contributing to quality come later.

How can the nutritional status of women be elevated?

This issue of women’s nourishment needs the combined effort of nutritionists and agricultural experts as both fields overlap concerning this. Strict attention is first needed from the agriculture sector to cope with this malnourishment. Then the responsibility comes to the nutritional experts. Some ideas like this have also been achieved through the bio-fortification of agricultural crops under the Harvest-plus programme in Pakistan. A Zincol-15 variety of wheat has been introduced to combat zinc deficiency specifically. Such strategies of fortification can help a lot to raise the nutritional status of women.

But what will the fortification do if women aren’t aware of the importance of their health and have no access to it? For that, awareness programmes can help a lot to enhance the consciousness level regarding health.  For better access, women should be encouraged to earn money and move with courage so that our future nations can step ahead with the same morale and exceptional confidence.