Category Archives: TFA News

TFA News

image_pdfimage_print

Covid-19 and Pakistan’s raging NCD crisis

Sep 2020: Heartfile’s op-ed “Covid-19 and Pakistan’s raging NCD crisis” has also been  featured in September issue of NCDA’s NCD Digest. The article highlights the increased vulnerability of people living with NCDs to getting seriously ill  after contracting COVID-19  infection and in the light of this statistically observable phenomenon, discusses the response-preparedness and capacity of Pakistan’s public health system and identifies gaps and fixing those gaps”

NCD s and COVID

In order to Get the message across to a wider audience , our recent op-ed entitled “COVID-19 and Pakistan’s raging NCD crises” (originally published in Dawn News on 09 August 2020) is now available in Urdu. Making it available in Urdu shall enable even more people better understand the increased vulnerability of people living with NCDs to  COVID-19. The op-ed has been published in Urdu Daily “Al Akhbar” . It has been printed in two parts.

Part 1 of the op-ed was printed on  19th 2020 . The second part (part 2) was printed in the same newspaper on 20th Sept 2020.

Second meeting of TFA Advisory Group, Pakistan

22nd September,2020: Subsequent to the February 2020 meeting of the TFA advisory group, a follow up meeting of the core Advisory group was conducted at Heartfile. The advisory group reviewed the progress and deliberated on a future course of actions while taking an account of latest developments in the country in order to align the course of actions with the goals of trans-fat elimination.

COVID-19 and Pakistan’s raging NCD crises

2 August 2020: Heartfile and colleagues recently published an op-ed in the Dawn newspaper entitled “COVID-19 and Pakistan’s raging NCD crises”. The op-ed highlights the dangerous interlinkages between NCDs and CoVID-19 and stresses the need to address the NCD crises – the leading cause of death in Pakistan and a source of vulnerability to severe illness from COVID-19.

Heartfile publishes Special Supplement on Trans- Fatty Acid (TFA) in Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association (JPMA)

June 2020: Heartfile published a special supplement in the Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association (JPMA) in its May 2020 issue titled Trans-Fatty Acid (TFA) elimination in Pakistan: A Situational Analysis. The supplement provides an overview of TFA sources in Pakistan, introduces the country’s regulatory framework governing food, and suggests steps to eliminate industrially-produced TFA from the Pakistani diet. The development of the report which was launched in July 2019 at a national event and its publishing in the premier medical journal is part of ongoing efforts to highlight the TFA issue and garner support towards the implementation of measures to eliminate it from the Pakistani diet. The special supplement can be accessed here

National Consultation on Development of National Action Plan for TFA Elimination in Pakistan

28th Nov ,2019: Heartfile co-hosted a national consultation workshop with @WHOPakistan & Nutrition wing of MoNHSRC in Islamabad to deliberate on the draft action plan which was prepared based on the discussion & suggestions by experts and policy makers in the light of the TFA studies conducted by WHO and Heartfile disseminated in earlier events. Representatives from all province’s food authorities, technical partners, NGOs and INGOs partake in that important discussion and came to a consensus.

Constitution of National TFA Advisory and Advocacy Group, Pakistan

26th Sep , 2019 : In the light of WHO’s calls on governments to use the REPLACE action package to eliminate industrially-produced trans-fatty acids from the food supply, Government of Pakistan’s Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination (MoNHSR&C) formed a national TFA advisory and advocacy group based on technical personals from the ministry, provincial food authorities, INGO/NGOs and media, to oversee the activities, processes and formulation of necessary policies & strategies to eliminate TFA in Pakistan.

TFA Advocacy Seminar

31st July ,2019: Heartfile co-hosted an advocacy seminar with @WHOPakistan & Nutrition wing of MoNHSRC in Islamabad to sketch the prevalence and sources of TFA in Pakistani diet and outlined a road map for policymakers and civil society to make Pakistan #TransFatFree by 2023.