Pakistan’s malnutrition crisis has not improved for decades

Women leaders term legislation and allocation of resources crucial for change

Islamabad

Pakistan is facing a malnutrition crisis that is amongst the worst in the world and has not improved for decades. It is among five countries where malnutrition, in all its forms, either directly or indirectly, is worst. It is, therefore, essential to enact necessary legislation and to allocate adequate resources to address this crisis.

Views to this effect echoed at a seminar organised by Scaling Up Nutrition Civil Society Alliance Pakistan (SUNCSA, Pak) with the support of Micronutrient Initiative (MI), here on Monday. The seminar was arranged in connection with International Women’s Day (IWD), which is celebrated every year on March 8 to highlight the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.

In her inaugural remarks, MNA Ayesha Gulali appreciated MI and SUN Society Alliance for highlighting the crucial issues faced by most of the Pakistani population. She said that women play key role in development as only a healthy mother can produce a healthy baby. She made a commitment to raise the issue of maternal malnutrition on the floor of the National Assembly, and promised to ensure that the KP government enacts necessary legislation and allocates adequate resources to address malnutrition.

Opening the ceremony, Aslam Shaheen, SUN Focal Person/Chief Nutrition Planning Commission, appreciated MI for highlighting the issue of maternal malnutrition and marking the achievements of women leaders from all walks of life. He said, the government of Pakistan, along with its partners, is striving to scale up nutrition programmes at the provincial and national levels. Aslam said, all provinces have developed their multi-sectoral nutrition strategies while the Pakistan Multi-sectoral Nutrition Strategy is being developed by the Ministry of Planning Development and Reform at the federal level. The provinces are also in the process of implementing PC-1s aiming at addressing maternal and child malnutrition, Aslam said.

Gynaecologist Dr. Shershah Syed, who is also president of Pakistan National Forum on Women’s Health, shared the overall situation of maternal malnutrition in Pakistan and recommended remedial actions. He said women in developing countries are 36 times are more likely to die of pregnancy-related complications than in developed nations, and unfortunately, Pakistan is among five countries where malnutrition in all its forms is worst.

Sharing the situation of maternal anaemia and its implications, Dr. Asma Badar, Country Manager of White Ribbon Alliance Pakistan, said anaemia is widely prevalent, mostly known, but fails to seek the kind of public health attention it merits. She said, around 1.62 billion people globally are affected by anaemia. In Pakistan, the situation has worsened over the years, said Dr. Asma. Moderate anaemia has increased from 27% (2001) to 49% in 2011 for non-pregnant women and from 36.9% to 49.3% for pregnant women in the similar time bracket. Meanwhile, it rose to 56% in 2011 against 47.3% in 2001 for children under 5 as well. The obvious gaps (demand and supply) in terms of availability of iron folic acid for pregnant lactating women (PLWs) at the community and facility levels, poor compliance, inadequate counselling and follow-up by healthcare providers, poor dietary diversity and eating habits, and lack of focus on adolescent girls to break the inter-generational cycle of anemia is contributing to poor maternal health outcomes, she added.

Dr. Shabina Raza, director general health KP shared the need to focus on implementation of SDGs. “Only if we implement SDG2 will we be able to achieve all SDGs,” Shabina said, adding that the KP government has developed a multi-sectoral nutrition strategy and has enacted laws to protect and promote breastfeeding in the province.

Dr. Sahib Jan Badar, Director Programmes, MNCH Sindh, said underlined the importance of adopting a multi-sectoral approach to address malnutrition. She said that Sindh is the worst affected province in terms of malnutrition. As such, the Sindh government has taken a number of steps to address malnutrition including implementation of Rs. 63 billion PC-1, which will be extended to whole of Sindh.

Journalist Sami Ibrahim said the media is not focusing on social issues, and that malnutrition in particular should be highlighted on a daily basis as it is a serious issues which is affecting Pakistan’s economy. Aoun Sahi said, the media has crucial role in awareness raising and accountability. He said bad governance is a major factor behind poor nutrition and health indicators.

Dr. Naseer Nizamani, Country Director, Micronutrient Initiative, highlighted the role of civil society in scaling up nutrition programmes at the grass roots level. He said, MI is hosting secretariat of SUN Civil Society Alliance, which is coalition over 118 CSOs from all over Pakistan. He said, we should capacitate civil society so that they could work with communities to improve behavioural practices.

MNA Dr. Nafisa Khattak emphasized implementation of multi-sectoral nutrition strategies in all provinces. She said that parliamentarians should work together beyond party affiliations as malnutrition is a national problem.

Concluding the ceremony, Dr. Abdul Baseer Achakzai, Director Nutrition at the Ministry of National Health said Pakistan is facing a malnutrition crisis that is amongst the worst in the world and has not improved for decades. This needs to be urgently addressed in order to safeguard the country’s future development and prosperity. “It’s a simple fact that nearly half of all children in Pakistan are malnourished, and this undermines their mental and physical growth, as well as the country’s prospects. Pakistan’s leaders must urgently recognize and respond to this emergency,” he said. Investing in ending malnutrition is one of the most cost-effective steps governments can take: every $1 invested in proven nutrition programmes offers benefits worth $16, he added.