Malnutrition: when will we act?

It’s a national emergency, but it’s not a priority. Increasing hunger levels is plain shameful and the latest Global Nutrition Report is just a cruel reminder of how the country has completely ignored health and nutrition from its agenda.

Unfortunately, all three forms of malnutrition - childhood stunting, anaemia in women of reproductive age and overweightness and obesity– are prevailing in Pakistan. Inequality and poverty form the core of the issue. The study shows that – around 40 per cent of food in Pakistan is wasted and around 70 per cent of people in the country cannot afford a balanced diet.

So while the number of children under five who are stunted and wasted has fallen in many countries, the prevalence of stunting has increased in a few countries that include Pakistan; it was 43 percent in 1992 and has increased to 45 percent by 2012. And for breastfeeding of infants aged up to five months, the rate has marginally increased but the progress is very slow. Surprisingly, other epidemics like obesity are also on the rise in Pakistan, highlighting the instances of food inequality.

And third, anaemia especially among women is another indicator of malnourishment in the country. The study shows that globally, 614 million women aged 15–49 years are affected by anaemia where India has the largest number of women impacted, followed by China, Pakistan, Nigeria and Indonesia. It further goes onto show that more than half of all women of reproductive age have anaemia in Pakistan and India.

The report points out that Pakistan’s spending on nutrition is lowest in Asia, which is around 3.7 percent of GDP compared to 8.2 percent in Bangladesh and over 13 percent in Nepal. The whole crux of a nation’s competitiveness depends on investment in human capital, where health, nutrition and education are basics.

At the risk of repeating, it is crucial that the importance of health and nutrition is acknowledged, prioritised and policies implanted on a war footing. A more holistic approach with better nutrition, equality in food distribution, and political will is needed to combat malnutrition. Unfortunately, not only has health and nutrition been off the priority list, the situation has been getting worse. It is not a case of a public service failure?