Islamabad’s children: Capital health indicators blot its shiny outlook

Survey reveals capital’s children are severely malnourished.

ISLAMABAD:

The key findings of the Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey (PDHS) 2012-13 paint a gloomy picture of child health in the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) which clearly reflects government’s lack of commitment to making Pakistan healthier.

The  PDHS 2012-13 launched  this year on January 22 reveals that  though the  ICT child health  indictors as compared to  other parts of the country are better but still are shocking and alarming.

The survey reveals that children under five in the ICT are severely malnourished as 22 per cent of them are stunted, 13 per cent are wasted and 14 per cent are under weight.  Meanwhile just 74 per cent aged 12-23 months are fully vaccinated as against 80 per cent immunisation coverage recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO).



The infant mortality rate is 35 deaths per 1,000 live-births whereas under-five mortality is 43 deaths per 1,000 live-births which is alarming and worrisome.

The health experts while talking to The Express Tribune said that poor governance, poverty, inflation, illiteracy among mothers, increasing trend of consuming junk food, lack of mass awareness about balanced diet and poor health infrastructure are the main factors behind these upsetting facts.

“The capital is suppose to set examples for other cities  in terms of improving health condition of its citizens,” said Dr Tariq Rahim, a senior public health expert.

He was of the view that these findings are just the tip of the ice berg as the situation is even worse in the suburbs.



Dr Rahim said that cost of living in Islamabad is very high as compared to other cities.

“How can a person earning a meagre Rs 10,000 to 20,000 per month can afford to buy healthy food for his family who has to spend half of his earning in paying house rents and utility bills,” he said.

Rabia Zafar, a researcher at the National Institute of Population Studies (NIPS) said that the reason behind the infant and under-five mortality in the capital territory is the overcrowded public hospitals in urban Islamabad and pathetic Basic Health Units and Rural Health Centres in its suburbs.



“There are just three public hospitals in the capital where doctors are over-burdened. It discourages expecting mothers from rural areas to come to these hospitals,” she said.

Because of the inflation there are many who even cannot afford to travel to Pims or Polyclinic.

Regarding malnutrition she said “mothers think that just by giving a glass of milk, meat and pizza to their children they are providing best diet to them which is absolutely wrong as they need to eat all kind of food to consume all essential nutrients,” she said.

The head of the National Nutrition Directorate Dr Baseer Achakzai expressed his concern over the poor health condition of children as reflected in the survey.

He said that poverty is one of the leading causes of malnutrition in the country due to which an expecting mother cannot afford to include essential nutrition in her diet which ultimately affects the growth of a baby both physically and psychologically.



“Due to this she gives birth to a severely malnourished child who usually fails to survive,” he said.

Capital Development Authority (CDA) Health Services Director Dr Hasan Urooj said he does not agree with the findings because it covers Islamabad as a whole and does not highlight the urban and rural situations separately.

“I can say with confidence that the coverage of routine immunization in urban Islamabad is 90 percent which is satisfactory,” he said.

He agreed that the situation of suburbs was not as good as in the urban.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 26^th, 2014.