Highlighting issues: 40% of Pakistan’s population malnourished

HEC has initiated scheme worth Rs2.9b to address malnutrition

FAISALABAD: Malnutrition affects 40% population of the country and lack of awareness is aggravating the problem, said University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan on Sunday.

He was addressing a workshop on Higher Education Commission’s Technology Development Fund at the New Senate Hall in Faisalabad. The event was arranged by US Pakistan Centre for Advanced Studies in Agriculture and Food Security.

“Although we have surplus food but 40% of our population is malnourished,” the UAF vice-chancellor said, adding the country had surplus wheat reserves of 10 million tonnes and was one of the largest producers of milk and meat but despite the fact, malnourishment was increasing day by day.

He maintained that research papers should not be piled up in the libraries and instead be transformed into goods and services to address the problems of a common man.



He said the HEC had initiated a scheme worth Rs2.9 billion in which researchers would come up with proposals to ensure food security in the country. The agriculture sector has been facing problems in the last decade as the post-harvest losses of crops are touching 35%, he added.

Experts believe malnutrition is a pathological condition resulting from the deficiency of one or more nutrients and has a wide range of clinical manifestations.

Children are amongst the worst-affected groups. In 2001, it was noted that malnutrition caused 54% deaths in children living in developing countries.

A survey conducted by the World Health Organisation revealed that improved nutrition is crucial in reducing the under 5-years mortality, especially in developing countries.

Every year, 800,000 children die in Pakistan and 35% of these occur due to malnutrition. The risk of death is nine times higher for a child suffering from malnutrition as compared to a child with a balanced diet.

Similarly, 61% children in Pakistan suffered from iron deficiency anaemia, 54% from Vitamin A deficiency, 40% from Vitamin D deficiency and 39% from zinc deficiency.

The issue of malnutrition could only be addressed by long term initiatives such as food security, child protection, empowerment of women and early childhood development programmes.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 3^rd, 2016.