A third of families forced to cut back on food

After a year of soaring food prices, 38% of surveyed Pakistani families claimed to have been forced to cut back on food. One in five parents (22%) complained that their children did not have enough food to eat.

Leading child rights organization, Save the Children, unveiled these data at the launch of its Global Nutrition Advocacy Strategy and Report ‘A Life Free from Hunger: Tackling Child Malnutrition’ here on Wednesday. The two documents were launched in 25 countries, including Pakistan, which, together with Bangladesh, India, Nigeria and Peru, is among the top ranked countries that have more than half of the world’s malnourished children’s population.

Long-term malnutrition is the underlying cause of more than 2.6 million child deaths each year. Growing up without getting enough nutritious food means children’s brains and bodies will not develop properly, leading to stunting, wasting and micronutrient deficiency. The damage done during the first 1,000 days of a child’s life is irreversible, even if a child’s diet improves later in life. In Pakistan, malnutrition accounts for 35% of under-5 mortality. Despite its alarming impact on child survival, malnutrition has not received the same high-profile attention and investment as other causes of child mortality like diarrhea and pneumonia.

Save the Children has warned that if no concerted action is taken, Pakistan will have the highest percentage of stunted children population over the next 15 years. In fact, the stunting rate in Pakistan has not decreased but has actually grown by almost 50% in the last ten years (The 2001-02 National Nutrition Survey-NNS, reported stunting rate at 31%, whereas the NNS report in 2011 shows it has alarmingly risen to 43.6%).

Presenting the global scenario, the report states that one in four of the world’s children are stunted; the figure is as high as one in three in the developing world. More than a third of children in Asia are stunted, accounting for almost 100 million of the global total.

The report also highlights the fact that if a child is malnourished in the first two years of life, his/her IQ will be up to 15 points lower than that of a child who ate a nutritious diet. Adults who were mal-nourished as children earn at least 20% less on average than those who were not. Boasting children’s nutrition can increase adult earnings by 46%. The report also points that it could cost as little as $10 billion to protect 90 percent of the world’s most vulnerable children from hunger.

Rising food prices and malnutrition are putting future global progress on child mortality at risk. This trend is especially alarming in Asia, where more than a third of children are stunted, which accounts for almost 100 million of the global total. India holds the highest rate of stunting amongst children, at a shocking 48%. Pakistan is not far with 43.6% children officially reported stunted.

Recent economic shocks, large-scale emergencies and sharp rises in the price of food, make accessing nutritious diet increasingly difficult for poorest households. Widespread flooding has destroyed crops and livelihoods, contributing further to increased prices. Consequently, nationally 58% of households are considered food insecure, Sindh being the worst affected with 72% of the population being food insecure. Overall, various estimates put 24-40% population living below the poverty line.

According to the report, aside from food price hike, the state of nutrition in Pakistan is poor because of lack of public awareness of the importance and impact of nutrition. Moreover, the nutrition component is totally missing from current social safety net programmes, and there is greater focus on treatment than on prevention. Infant feeding practices and gender discrimination further compound the situation.

Briefing the media, the deputy country director of Save the Children highlighted the steps taken by the Pakistani government and the progress made so far. “If we want to change the situation, we will need to increase coordination in developing and implementing a coherent nutrition strategy. The federal and provincial governments, international community and all other stakeholders need to react to this crisis now otherwise the future of millions of Pakistani children will be at stake.”

To address malnutrition issue in Pakistan, Save the Children has called upon the provincial governments to develop plans to integrate nutrition into their health strategy and annual development plans and allocate adequate funding to ensure implementation of minimum package of direct nutrition interventions.

The government should expand the role for female health workers to carry out assessment and response to severe malnutrition at community level. Moreover, there should be an increase in the Benazir Income Support Programme cash transfers to enable poorest families to have access to a nutritious diet. The organization has also proposed for the provincial governments to expand on efforts to fortify staple foods with key nutrients, as well as setting up implementation and monitoring mechanisms to establish laws aimed at ensuring healthy feeding practices.

 The  International News