Pakistan is among the countries that suffer from two of the commonest forms of malnutrition which include under-five stunting and anaemia among women during the child bearing years.
The first-ever global nutrition report that tracks the progress of 193 member countries of the United Nations in improving their nutrition status also identified Pakistan beginning to encounter the problem of adult obesity and related problems.
The authors of the report, launched at the second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2), have also assessed the progress against the six global world health assembly nutrition targets that include reducing child stunting and wasting, anaemia in women of reproductive age, and low birth weight; preventing a worsening of child overweight; and increasing exclusive breastfeeding of infants.
“With urban transition and changing lifestyles, Pakistan is now facing a mixed pattern of malnutrition with high rates of under-nutrition and micronutrient deficiencies among poor women and children as well as increasing rates of overweight and obesity among adults,” said Dr Zulfiqar Bhutta.
The senior paediatrician and one of the authors of the report along with his colleagues had examined the impact on stunting and wasting in Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Pakistan of scaling up coverage of key nutrition-specific programmes, plus interventions related to optimising birth intervals and improving water, sanitation, and hygiene.
The results showed that by scaling up key interventions, the model estimates reductions in the prevalence of stunting of 17 per cent, 21 per cent, and 18 per cent from 2013 to 2025 in Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Pakistan respectively.
Predicted reductions in the prevalence of severe wasting were estimated at 65 per cent, 62 per cent and 58 per cent respectively. The impacts on severe wasting are particularly noteworthy whereas the estimated declines in stunting are modest and signal the need to increase both the coverage and quality of these interventions.
Prof Zulfiqar Bhutta, also the founding director of the Centre for Excellence in Women and Child Health at Aga Khan University, said scientists and public health specialists at AKU were engaged in testing and implementing innovations and low-cost solutions to address the problems of stunting and wasting among infants and children as well as adolescent girls in various settings.
