With food security, energy crunch and climate crisis topping the agenda of world forums and summits, Pakistan is the most vulnerable to weather whims, which impact human resource development and national growth on a larger scale.
\nHaving a population of over 220 million, Pakistan is the most populated country in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) and accounts for 30 percent of the total regional population, where information on a wide range of issue related to human development, natural resources, labor force, production and price indexes is for the most part sketchy.
\nFood insecurity is a major development problem across the globe, which is undermining people\u2019s health, productivity and often their very survival in totality. Pakistan is running short of opportunities for health and nutrition input to make rapid development and scale up its defences against hunger with renewed social protection activities to shield the most vulnerable groups.
\nThe theme for this year\u2019s World Food Day, which passed away quietly amid Pakistan\u2019s recent political upheaval, is \u201cLeave no one behind\u201d. The day, which falls on October 16 every year, highlights the plight of millions of people worldwide who cannot afford a healthy diet and who are in dire need of regular access to nutrition food.
\nStatistical data indicate that the country occurs 142nd on the world human development index, with 24 per cent of its population living below the poverty line, which is mostly characterized by high population growth, infant and maternal mortality rates, with a high burden of communicable disease.
\nThe major causative factors attributed to the morbidity and mortality in children include malnutrition, diarrhoea, acute respiratory illnesses and other communicable and vaccine preventable diseases. Several large scale and small scale nutritional and food insecurity surveys have been conducted and all pointed towards serious deficits in nutritional status and downgraded food security system in the country.
\nThere are also significant variations in malnutrition rates in Pakistan. A recent study of more than 1500 households in two districts of Sindh and Punjab provinces by Action Against Hunger has placed the prevalence of acute malnutrition at 22 percent and 23 respectively. The Comprehensive Food Security and Livelihood Assessment (CFSLA) report by Wold Food Program (WFP) in its latest revealed 31 percent households are food insecure.
\nThe United Nations\u2019 Children\u2019s Emergency Fund, UNICEF, has warned in its recent report on Pakistan that in the flood-affected areas of Sindh and Balochistan provinces, more than one in nine children under five admitted to health facilities suffered from severe to acute malnutrition.
\nThe estimates based on the pre-existing malnutrition prevalence indicate that close to 1.6 million children could be suffering from malnutrition and in need of urgent treatment in the areas impacted by the floods.
\nHeath sectors of various provinces and center need to strengthen the capacity of officials for best outcomes in the fields. Use of novel techniques in agriculture production and efficient water storage for major crops could steer the country out of food woes. Changes in dietary patterns may also prove helpful in combating food insecurity.
\nIt is needless to say that Pakistan has to work hard on indicators underlined by world food monitors in the face of prevailing global situation and escalation of tensions in various regions to have sufficient provisions for domestic use to stave off any shortage of foodstuff and food grains in future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With food security, energy crunch and climate crisis topping the agenda of world forums and summits, Pakistan is the most vulnerable to weather whims, which impact human resource development and national growth on a larger scale. Having a population of over 220 million, Pakistan is the most populated country in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[11224,20],"class_list":{"0":"post-291374","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-editorial","7":"tag-food-woes","8":"tag-pakistan"},"yoast_head":"\n