Around 72 percent of the population in Sindh is facing acute food insecurity, with the children less than five years needing emergency measures since 17.5 percent of them suffer from acute malnutrition and seven percent are severely malnourished, the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Saturday fearing that situation in the province might get worse due to current floods.
“The National Nutrition Survey (NNS 2011), launched yesterday (Saturday) showed that Sindh has one of the highest rates of malnutrition in the country especially so for mothers and children. The results are way above World Health Organization’s emergency threshold of 15 percent, which indicates a critical nutrition situation. In addition, half of all children are stunted, a sign of long term malnutrition,” the WFP said in a press release.
When WFP Spokesman Amjad Jamal was contacted to explain what could be done if the figures crossed the WHO threshold, he said, “Threshold is a minimum standard and if the figures cross that standard, it means that you have to declare emergency given the gravity of the situation.” Amjad further added that the WHO’s threshold also meant that children would not have enough food to eat and could not develop physically and mentally per their potential.
When asked if the WFP had informed the government of the gravity of the situation, he said the survey was carried out in collaboration with the government and the WFP only related the findings in the perspective of international standards. According to the WFP, it would not be surprising if Sindh appears with the highest proportion of food insecure people. “Nearly 72 percent of the population is food insecure and do not have access to enough food,” the WFP said, adding the situation could only be expected to get worse with the onset of current floods and the resulting loss of property, food stocks and the damage to standing crops.
Last year’s post-flood nutrition survey had reported acute malnutrition rates as high as 23.1 percent in the affected areas of Sindh. According to the WFP’s press release, distribution of food in the flood affected areas of lower Sindh was continuing and the UN was scaling up its efforts rapidly. “The WFP is taking practical steps to stabilise and improve the nutritional levels of the affected population. We will also scale up our targeted feeding programme, where we identify the acutely malnourished and provide a special supplementary food for children under five,” Dominique Frankefort, the WFP Acting Country Director said.
Recognising the link between shortage of quality food and poor feeding practices, he said that the WFP was working with local companies to produce the RUSF that was previously being imported. He also added the WFP had currently helped treat 330,000 malnourished children which had boasted high recovery rates.
