Feed the children

According to British journal The Lancet, 35 per cent of all deaths under the age of five in Pakistan are attributed to malnutrition. Furthermore, half of all children in Pakistan suffer from malnutrition while one-fourth of all infants are born underweight. As part of an awareness campaign, The Lancet, in collaboration with Save the Children and Aga Khan University Hospital, has begun a series called, Maternal and Child Nutrition 2013, to place emphasis on national nutrition programmes and integrated health programmes to tackle the issue of malnutrition.

It is a shame that Afghanistan, a country stricken with war for three decades, displays better trends of stunted growth than Pakistan. Considering the amount of wastage at lavish Pakistani weddings, as we strive to ensure enough food for all guests in order to ‘maintain reputations’, the above statistics are shameful. The disparity between those who can afford to pay Rs1,000 per head for a meal and those who can barely scrape that amount together for food for the entire month keeps getting bigger. While it is not the job of wealthy citizens to feed those less able, some might say it is their social responsibility. However, first and foremost, it is the government that lets these children starve. Perhaps, what the government does not realise is that malnutrition is also an economic issue as the health of a workforce negatively impacts economic development. Research shows that a malnutritioned workforce can reduce a country’s GDP by up to four per cent.

We need to call on our government to place its focus on starving children. For a country that has so much wealth in terms of natural food resources, the statistics are abominable. While the country has a major charity system in place in the way of zakat, as well as multiple welfare organisations, we need emphasis on national nutrition programmes to keep our children alive and healthy. This memo must, first and foremost, go out to our government.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 30^th, 2013.

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