Federal Minister for Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety, Shazia Marri Thursday said Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) had set a target to enroll 1.5 million children and pregnant and lactating mothers under Benazir Nashonuma program by the year 2025.
In a statement issued here, Shazia Marri said that a total of 0.643 million pregnant and lactating mothers and their new-born children had been enrolled in the Benazir Nashonuma Program so far.
The minister stated that the government was taking care of the nutritional needs of the beneficiaries through this initiative mainly to prevent stunting in children during the first 1000 days of their development.
Under the Nashonuma program, Rs 24 billion had been distributed among the beneficiaries so far, she added.
She conveyed that around 487 Facilitation Centers had been established in 157 districts of the country.
Special nutritious food and immunizations are ensured for children aged 6-23 months while the awareness sessions on hygiene, sanitation and nutrition were also being conducted as a part of the program, the minister said.
Shazia Marri said that the coalition government and Pakistan People’s Party were advancing the social safety agenda.
She emphasized the need of more investment for the nutritional needs of the poor. She highlighted that a proposal to increase the budget of Nashonuma program from 21.8 billion rupees to 32 billion rupees was under-consideration.
Moreover, BISP has disbursed Rs.1.26 billion among 375,150 beneficiaries under the Conditional Cash Transfer scheme of Benazir Nashonuma during July-March FY 2023.
According to the Economic Survey 2022-23 released on Thursday, the programme is operationalized in 156 districts of the country through 442 Facilitation Centers.
