MADRID, SPAIN (Web Desk) - Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal represented Pakistan at a high-level international forum co-hosted by UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the Government of Spain, focusing on global strategies for child and family well-being.
Addressing the first-ever Global Caregiver Forum, Minister Iqbal stressed the urgent need for long-term investments in early childhood development, calling them a fundamental matter of human rights and economic sustainability. He highlighted the challenge governments face due to short political cycles that discourage long-term social investments.
“The fundamental problem is that governments run on five-year cycles, while these investments do not yield visible results in that time,” he said, adding that early childhood development is often neglected despite its transformative long-term impact.
The minister said Pakistan has partnered with media and civil society to ensure accountability and keep early childhood development on the national agenda. He warned that poor nutrition and weak caregiving permanently affect children’s physical, cognitive, and creative capacities, undermining future economic productivity.
Representing a country with over 95 million children, including nearly 41 million under the age of five, Iqbal noted that around 54 percent of Pakistani children are at risk of not reaching their full developmental potential due to poverty, poor nutrition, and limited learning opportunities.
He also highlighted Pakistan’s vulnerability to climate change, recalling the 2022 floods that submerged one-third of the population and erased years of development progress, disproportionately affecting women and children.
Despite these challenges, Pakistan has launched its Early Childhood Development Policy Framework, aligned with the Uraan Pakistan Framework, committing to integrated health, nutrition, education, and caregiving systems for children up to age eight.
The minister further shared innovative initiatives such as Project Play, which integrates responsive caregiving into malnutrition treatment, and the Young Peace and Development Corps, training university students as community mobilizers for child health and nutrition awareness.
He concluded by emphasizing that early childhood development requires a whole-of-society approach involving governments, civil society, academia, and media. His remarks received applause from international delegates, recognizing Pakistan’s pioneering efforts in the global caregiver agenda.