Every person has a right to proper nutrition but sadly in Pakistan it has become a luxury for many. This column has covered the horrible menace of malnutrition facing the country and will now shed light on one its devastating consequences, stunting. (Read: “Malnutrition: The hidden menace” published October 05, 2016)
According to some shocking statistics by the UNICEF as well as WaterAid almost 44 percent of the children in Pakistan are stunted. With roughly 9.8 million stunted children it is high time the country follows the advice of Jim Yong Kim, president of the World Bank, who declared stunting as a development and an economic emergency in April 2016.
Jim Yong had good cause to bring the issue home given that every year at least one million child deaths occur due to stunting globally. Even if the children somehow to manage to survive they will be marred with permanent damage which adversely affects their cognitive abilities, educational performance, productivity and results in pregnancy issues as well. In addition it results in reduced adult wages for these stunted children leaving them unable to live a productive and prosperous life.
It is crucial to provide proper nutrition to a child during the first 1000 days of its life when 80 percent of the brain capacity of the child develops. A challenge is that mothers who themselves are often malnourished in many rural areas of Pakistan give birth to stunted children, which magnifies the problem. Maternal malnutrition also makes children more vulnerable to life threatening infections and diseases in subsequent years.
According to a report published by WaterAid titled “Caught Short: How a Lack of Toilets and Clean Water Contributes to Malnutrition” roughly nine percent of the population in Pakistan is bereft of clean drinking water and almost 39 percent lack access to proper sanitation.
The report claims that toilets and clean water play a significant role in affecting a child’s physical and mental development. The lack of proper water, sanitation and hygiene promotes increased malnutrition which in turn breeds stunting giving rise to a vicious cycle which requires a multi-pronged solution which takes into account all factors.
Interestingly, the report argues that interventions that directly affecting malnutrition including nutrient supplements and increased breastfeeding will only be able to mitigate stunting by 20 percent despite successfully targeting 90 percent of the population in severely affected countries such as Pakistan. To successfully eradicate the remaining 80 percent of stunting, the report believes access to clean water as well as proper sanitation and hygiene must be ensured.
However, Pakistan is also plagued by massive inequalities present in the nutritional status and stunting statistics with the disparities ranging from geographical locations to income groups. Even though poverty levels have come down in Pakistan, malnutrition and stunting has increased.
There is a clear gap between the urban and rural segments in our society. Sadly this is reflected in the stunting rate being almost two and a half times more for the bottom 20 percent of society as compared to the top 20 percent.
When it comes to Sindh, the stunting rate shockingly surpasses even the country’s bottom 20 percent population.
The stunting rate for rural Sindh is even higher than the country’s bottom 20 percent population.
It is essential for all provincial governments as well as the federal government to unite against this “economic and development emergency”, which threatens to ruin our coming generations. Given the magnitude and scope of the problem, there might even be the need to create a ministry for reducing stunting and malnutrition.
This is entirely plausible given the dismal improvements that have been witnessed in countering these menaces. Although addressing malnutrition is part of the Vision 2025, yet this country has always had an abundance of fiver year plans and visions. Implementation is what is required.
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Province/region Percent of stunted children under 5 years age
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Overall Urban Rural
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Pakistan 45.6 37.1 48.2
Punjab 39.8 32.4 42.9
Sindh 56.7 46.1 63.3
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 41.9 31.4 44.2
ICT 22.2
Gilgit Baltistan 35.9
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Child stunting ratth Wealth quintile
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Lowest 61.6
Second 55.7
Middle 40.6
Fourth 37.8
Highest 23
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Source: Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey 2012-13
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