Child nutrition crisis

There are few positive comparisons between countries in which Pakistan does well, yet food production is easily one of them. The country is a top ten producer of virtually every major food commodity in the world and is often in the top five. So it is not entirely without irony that the United Nations is warning of a serious child malnutrition crisis amongst flood survivors. At least 10 million children have been affected by the flood, including 2.8 million children under the age of five. While agricultural production has been badly hit, it is not yet enough to cause severe food shortages in the country. The problem is very clearly more of logistics rather than a lack of availability which means that solving the problem is more tedious. Nutritional problems, particularly for children, can result in severe developmental disorders that can handicap their health for the remainder of their lives. Unfortunately, hunger is not a problem that registers as an acute crisis and thus can often instil a sense of lethargy when it comes to the relief efforts. It is imperative upon the government to ensure that it pays careful attention to child nutrition in its flood relief work. We would also like to remind those members of civil society engaged in flood relief to also take the special needs of children into account when planning their relief missions.

Of course, it needs to be kept in mind that an overwhelming majority of children whose health is now in risk because of the floods was already suffering from malnutrition. This is because the bulk of those displaced are from the impoverished rural countryside — and even those living in towns affected by the floods are by and large not very well off and hence prone to not eating a health balanced diet. The numbers are so massive that planning will have to be on a gigantic scale and in that health from UN agencies, in particular Unicef and the World Food Programme will be essential.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 26^th, 2010.