ISLAMABAD — In a major milestone for child healthcare and social protection, the Government of Pakistan and the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) have officially signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with three United Nations agencies—UNICEF, the World Food Programme (WFP), and the World Health Organization (WHO)—to extend the landmark Benazir Nashonuma Programme (BNP) for another three years.

Dubbed BNP 3.0, the renewal cements a shared global and national vision to systematically dismantle the intergenerational cycle of malnutrition across Pakistan.

Expanding Lifesaving Healthcare and Nutrition

The three-year extension is set to significantly scale up the country’s largest nutrition intervention. Key targets and highlights of the expanded phase include:

• Massive New Outreach: An additional 3.3 million vulnerable pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, and children under the age of two will gain direct access to lifesaving nutrition and health services.
• Expanding Infrastructure: The rollout will continue through a robust national network consisting of 578 facilitation centres and 224 nutrition stabilization centres.
• Targeting Global Success: Recent independent evaluations show the programme has already achieved world-class results, reducing child stunting rates by 22% at six months of age and decreasing preterm births by 11%.

An Investment in Human Capital

UNICEF commended the Government of Pakistan’s unwavering commitment to nutrition-responsive social protection. While celebrating the program’s massive expansion—which is expected to increase total historical reach to nearly 8 million people—the agency emphasized that acute malnutrition remains one of the greatest underlying threats to Pakistan’s long-term human capital and economic development.

“Nutrition-responsive social protection is not assistance; it is an investment in Pakistan’s future where every child can survive, grow, and shine,” UNICEF noted in its statement.

By effectively bridging social safety nets with specialized healthcare, Pakistan is setting a global benchmark for protecting its next generation from chronic wasting and developmental delays.