KARACHI: Malnutrition among infant and under aged children in Sindh assumed critical level, around 22 percent not only due to poverty but because of poor sanitation and hygienic practices, said speakers at seminar on Tuesday.
Prof. Abdul Ghaffar Biloo, Prof. Dur e Samin Akram, Dr. Dur e Shawar Khan, Associate Professor S.K.Kauser, Prof. Fehmina Arif, Dr. Yasmeen Sulaiman Shaikh, Dr. Noor Khan and Dr. Ammara Shakil were the speakers at the session organized by Health, Education and Literacy Program (HELP).
The speakers said that loss caused to crops due to natural disasters was an important phenomenon, however, nutritional status of children in particular and adults in general was on steady decline due to non availability of potable water, poor sanitary condition coupled with disregard for hygiene and cleanliness.
They warned that indifference towards efforts to address the issue of malnutrition among children and women could cause severe conditions.
Sufferers may develop irreversible conditions as brain damage and series of other serious health condition with direct bearing on social and economic fabric of the society, they said.
The seminar was focussed on dissemination of knowledge and information generated through an extensive project on Home Based Nutrition Rehabilitation of Severely Malnourished Children in different parts of the province including a slum in Karachi, flood hit areas as well as other remote parts in Sindh.
Prof. D.S Akram said the malnutrition rates in Sindh are more than the WHO emergency threshold and there are very few organizations that have experience to address this problem.
To rehabilitate malnourished children UN agencies are using highly expensive and imported ready to use therapeutic food.
The senior paediatrician said it was important for the government to focus on cost effective alternatives comprising locally produced low cost products for the management of malnourished and severely malnourished children.
"We through the platform of HELP have attempted to address the issue and have established its relevance in the context of our country," she said.
The initiative, she said was taken after participating in a World Bank sponsored competition and winning grant for a project with innovating ideas.
During the exercise HELP used a locally manufactured high energy food supplement made from indigenous ingredients to rehabilitate identified group of severely malnourished children.
Dr. D.S.Akram said the innovative high density food (NUTRI-HELP) is made from daal, rice, oil, sugar in a way that it provides 450-100gm calories of high proteins supplements besides micronutrient that were added separately.
"In project all children gained weight and 85 percent children reached normal weight between four to five months," she said.
The paediatrician said cost for treatment was significantly less as compared to imported therapeutic food.
Dr. Dure Shehwar Khan, former focal person for Nutrition, Government of Sindh, stressed the need to create awareness about breast feeding and complementary feeding for children reaching the age of six months.
"The window of opportunity is the first 1000 days in a child's life from its conception upto two years of age are crucial to provide optimum nutrition," she said.
Dr. S.K Kauser sought efforts and close collaboration between stakeholders to ensure that food reaches the neediest and the issue of food insecurity is adequately addressed.
Prof. Biloo said the government must undertake the responsibility to provide low cost and high quality supplemental food for children in need.
He also sought concerted efforts to improve the nutrition practices of women and children.
Additional Secretary for Sindh health department, Dr. Khalid Shaikh referred to measures adopted by the government to address the issue of malnutrition among women and children.
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