A child expired at Civil Hospital Mithi on Saturday, taking the death toll of children from malnutrition this month, in Sindh's desert district of Tharparkar to 24. Reports said that the infants died due to malnutrition during the treatment. With death of 24 children this month, the year's death rate in the area raised to 488 children. According to health experts, the major causes of these deaths are malnutrition and lack of proper healthcare facilities in Tharparkar an arid region bordering India.
The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), which has been in power for nearly ten years in the province of Sindh, has invited scathing criticism from opposition parties and civil society groups for failing to address the issues and conditions, which led to the death of children in the area. Health experts said the government's inability to ensure food supplies in the arid region results in malnutrition of mothers, which resulting in death of newborns in the region.
Thar desert, one of Pakistan's poorest areas, has recently witnessed an alarming number of children suffering from pneumonia or diarrhea due to a dangerous mix of drought, poverty and poor health infrastructure. It is the same region, which holds one of the world's largest deposits of coal and the government in collaboration with Chinese companies and other investors working on coal-fired power projects to meet the energy needs of the country.
Published under arrangements with NNI.
No content from Business Recorder shall be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication, or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium.
Business Recorder shall not be responsible or held liable for any error of fact, opinion or recommendation and also for any loss, financial or otherwise, resulting from business or trade or speculation conducted, or investments made, on the basis of the information posted here. Nor shall Business Recorder be held liable for any actions taken in consequence." >Copyright News Network International, 2017