Federal Health Minister Syed Mustafa Kamal has ordered officials to prepare “actionable recommendations” on malnutrition after warning this week that Pakistan cannot meet its health targets while mothers and children remain undernourished. The directive, issued at a meeting with finance adviser Adnan Pasha, needs to become more than another file passed between ministries.
While Mr Kamal cited a 43 per cent stunting rate, UNICEF’s latest update puts the number at four in every ten children under five, or roughly 10 million children. Its estimate of 17.7 per cent wasting means another five million face immediate danger. Malnutrition costs an estimated $17 billion a year, though no qualms about this price being first paid at home.
Food inflation is only part of the story. Poor maternal diet, anaemia, early pregnancies, weak antenatal care, unsafe water and repeated diarrhoeal illness are all part of this self-perpetuating, vicious cycle. Interestingly, stunting reaches better-off homes, too, as diet quality, maternal care and the safety of household water supply matter across income levels. Only 38 per cent of Pakistani babies are exclusively breastfed for their first six months, while nearly 62 per cent of children under five are anaemic. Treatment programmes for severe acute malnutrition do achieve cure rates above global standards, according to UNICEF, yet reach fewer than five per cent of all malnourished children.
In July, Benazir Income Support Programme joined hands with international bodies to extend the Benazir Nashonuma Programme for another three years, aiming to reach another 3.3 million women and children. Since 2020, it has reached 4.7 million people; enrolled children were 22 per cent less likely to be stunted at six months. Its 578 facilitation centres and 224 nutrition stabilisation centres also make use of an existing national platform, serving as a commendable case study for federal coordination that could produce common district targets and dependable funding for dependable, reliable and trustworthy services.
Pakistan is still relying on a National Nutrition Survey completed in 2018. A fresh survey is overdue, as are public district-level results showing who is screened, who is treated and where basic health units fail families. The result should be presented publicly to parliament each year, alongside spending and district outcomes.
