City gets its first nutrition clinic

PFA DG says authority to open these clinics in all divisional headquarters by August 14, 2018

LAHORE: To raise awareness about healthy and nutritious food among the public, the Punjab Food Authority (PFA) opened its first nutrition clinic on Thursday.

PFA Director General Noorul Amin Mengal has announced that the authority has aimed to open nutrition clinics at all divisional headquarters by August 14, 2018. The network of nutrition clinics will be spread to all 36 districts of Punjab at a later stage. Qualified nutritionists will provide guidance to the general public about benefits of healthy and nutritious food at these clinics and over telephone helpline, he said.

As per National Nutrition Survey, he pointed out, that around half of Punjab's population is undernourished. One of the basic reasons of this deficiency is lack of awareness about the significance of nutrition. "Though, dozens of nutrition clinics are operating in the private sector in all big cities of the country, but most of them are expensive and beyond the reach of common man. However, in PFA's nutrition clinics one can get advice from a qualified nutritionist for just Rs232."

SOURCE: EUROPEAN UNION

According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation's (FAO) nutrition profile database, nutritional status of children under five years of age in Pakistan is extremely poor. At a national level, almost 40% of these children are underweight. Over half the children are affected by stunting and about 9% by wasting.

However, a positive relationship exists between the age of the child and the prevalence rates of stunting and underweight. There are significant provincial variations in malnutrition rates in Pakistan, whereas no differences in malnutrition rates are apparent between sexes. The prevalence of stunting appears to be associated with the overall level of development of the provinces, being lowest in Punjab and highest in Balochistan.



The anthropometric deficits are systematically higher in rural areas probably due to the lower socio-economic status and to very poor access to basic health services. According to the nation-wide food consumption surveys conducted in Pakistan, the average daily per head energy intake covered the daily requirements in the periods 1984-85 and 1987-88. Unfortunately, since no recent nation-wide food consumption surveys are available, no information on the adequacy of present food consumption can be provided.

In the Pakistani diet, cereals remain the main staple food providing 62% of total energy. Compared to other Asian countries, the level of milk consumption is significant in Pakistan, whereas the consumption of fruits and vegetables, fish and meat remains very low.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 4^th, 2018.