Abstract

Food and nutrition security has exceptionally evolved during the last few years to ensure the reliable accessibility of sufficient, affordable and nutritious foods to all individuals for a healthy life. However, it’s still a critical health and social issue affecting a large number of the population worldwide. Food insecurity is affecting more than 2 billion people globally and according to the National Nutrition Survey 2018, 37% population of Pakistan is food insecure. Further, the overall stunting rate in Pakistan is 40% and to address the issue of stunting and malnutrition with special reference to micronutrient deficiencies, nutrition security is of prime importance coupled with food security. The main contributing factors regarding food insecurity in Pakistan are lack of diet diversity, low purchasing power, inadequate access to the food supply and less agricultural knowledge. Moreover, sub-optimal dietary patterns lead to malnutrition that not only affects physical health but also cognitive development. Food and nutrition security complement each other and can be attained by utilizing advanced trends in the field of nutrition including nutrition-sensitive/nutrition-specific approaches and personalized nutrition with special reference to nutrigenomics and nutrigenetics. Food and nutrition insecurity is a multifaceted issue that can be resolved by considering all the underlying causes including nutrition education, political and social stability, advanced agricultural practices and diversification. There should be more focus on the production of high-yielding and climate-resilient crops. Zoning of arable land should be practiced to enhance production of under cultivated crops such as soybean, pulses and legumes which are currently being imported. Public health awareness regarding balanced diet and the right choices of food should be promoted through mass media campaigns.Conclusively, by following all these strategies sustainable development goal “Zero Hunger” can be achieved