Both the government and NGOs need to streamline their efforts and decide on a holistic approach.
ISLAMABAD: The healthcare system in the rural parts of our country, as well as in the urban areas, needs to improve drastically as an increasing number of deaths are being caused by malnutrition in children, which is extremely worrying. This essentially shows a lack of coordinated effort by various government institutions, which can do a lot to improve the healthcare system if they increase cooperation with humanitarian organisations that are focusing on child welfare. Both the government and NGOs need to streamline their efforts and decide on a holistic approach towards dealing with this issue.
A country like Pakistan cannot afford such a high number of deaths purely due to shortage of basic needs like food. In addition, many thousands of children have to survive in dismal living conditions, which highlights the fact that we need to look at the problem of malnutrition ever more closely. Pakistan may not have the resources at its disposal to address malnutrition effectively, but we can still improve the existing conditions through wise allocations, disbursements and utilisation of available funds.
Malik Wasim
Published in The Express Tribune, June 28th, 2012.
