Pakistan is currently facing a silent crisis of malnutrition that is amongst the worst in the world.
ISLAMABAD: This is with reference to a press report on malnutrition by Ms Sehrish Wasif “Fighting malnutrition: political parties urged to take more responsibility to address malaise” published in your newspaper on April 23. Pakistan is currently facing a silent crisis of malnutrition that is amongst the worst in the world and has not improved for decades. This needs to be urgently addressed in order to safeguard the country’s future development and prosperity. It is a simple fact that nearly half of all children in Pakistan are malnourished, and this undermines their own mental and physical growth, as well as the country’s prospects. Pakistan’s leaders must urgently recognise and respond to this challenge, and must prioritise evidence-based policies and programmes which can address this crisis.
The food security and hunger situation in the country is serious. Nationwide 58 per cent of households (104 million people) are food insecure. For half of these households, food insecurity is coupled with moderate or severe hunger. Rural families are worse off than urban ones. In rural areas, 60 per cent of families are food insecure with more than three quarters of them experiencing moderate or severe hunger. In urban settings, the comparable figure is 52 per cent with half experiencing moderate or severe hunger. In the most seriously affected province, Sindh, about 72 per cent of families (an estimated 43 million people) are food insecure and more than two-thirds of them experience moderate or severe hunger. Importantly, the data collection was undertaken prior to the recent floods. Indications are that the situation in these areas may have deteriorated further.
Journalists can play an important role in highlighting the important issue of malnutrition. However, due to media transformation in the last decade or so, journalism on social issues is still an evolving phenomenon in Pakistan. Therefore, because of more focus on political issues and crime reporting, social and health issues are not much covered as required. Consequently, nutrition is not a priority area and less integrated in manifestos of political parties. It is duty of senior journalists and media persons to underline the issue of malnutrition to save the future of Pakistan.
Dr Muhammad Irshad Danish
Published in The Express Tribune, April 28th, 2013.
