Pakistan's government must take urgent action to protect children from the effects of the global food crisis, a senior UN children's fund official said Friday. "These children are in danger and we need to devise ways to respond to the crisis and save them," David Toole, regional director of UNICEF South Asia, told a press conference. Toole, who was on a four-day visit to Pakistan as part of a South Asian tour, said during his meetings with government officials he called for "out-of-the-box" thinking to tackle spiralling food prices and shortages. "The government should unveil incentives such as distribution of cash and other mechanisms available at his disposal for people with limited resources all over the country to minimise the impact of the wheat and rice shortage," he added. "Efforts should also be focused on targeted food subsidies as well as on other comprehensive programmes to strengthen food production," Toole said. Pakistan's 160 million people have suffered from a huge increase in food prices as well as from shortages in wheat, the main dietary staple here, and rice. Toole said the food crisis was "huge, making it difficult for millions of people in South Asian countries including Pakistan to feed their children, who are likely to be adversely affected by the crisis." Pakistan also faced "enormous challenges" other than food security, including a high infant mortality rate, Toole said. "This is the greatest challenge as about 500 children die every day (in Pakistan) before their first birthday mainly because of serious health and maternal problems among women," Toole said.