MALNUTRITION: Pakistan: increasing at alarming rate across province

November 24, 2011 : Staff Report
LAHORE: The percentage of children suffering from chronic malnutrition in Punjab has increased to 39 percent as compared to 32.5 percent in 2001 referring to the deplorable condition where two out of every five children are malnourished, revealed the National Nutrition Survey 2011 – Punjab.



To make the report public, an event titled “Provincial Dissemination of National Nutrition Survey 2011, Punjab” was organised by the Bureau of Statistics Punjab Planning and Development Department in collaboration with the UNICEF at a local hotel on Wednesday.
Addressing the audience on the occasion, Punjab Health Special Secretary Dawood Muhammad Bareach said that the rate of acute malnutrition was about 14 percent. Quoting from the survey report, Dawood said that the children in the province were exposed to the threat of death, being susceptible to numerous diseases owing to malnutrition.
He said that the percentage of children with iodine deficiency had increased, however, those with anaemia and other deficiencies, including that of Vitamin A, remain unchanged since the last survey of 2001.
Dawood added that the current survey revealed that deficiency of Vitamin D was more common among children now, and was one of the major public health problems in the province.
Separately, the health secretary informed that the provincial government had taken the results of this new survey very seriously and was working closely with the UNICEF and other partners to reduce malnutrition amongst vulnerable children as well as pregnant women.
He said that one of the leading causes of this malnutrition was the devastation caused by the 2010 monsoon floods that contributed heavily in the spread of diseases and malnutrition.
Punjab Bureau of Statistics Director General Shamim Rafiq, quoting form the survey report, said that almost 30 percent of households in Punjab were food insecure due to lack of access to adequate food. Almost one-third of the children across the province were underweight, and the situation was even worse for children in the rural areas. He stressed on the need to make concerted efforts to combat the issue of malnutrition.
Punjab UNICEF Health and Nutrition Specialist Dr Tahir Manzoor, Aga Khan University Maternal and Child Health Department Head and professor Dr Zulfiqar A Bhutta, NIH Deputy Director Nutrition Dr Baseer Khan Achakzai, and UNICEF Country Representative Dan Rohmann also spoke on the occasion and urged that sustainable efforts were needed to tackle the crucial issue.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011%5C11%5C24%5Cstory_24-11-2011_pg13_7

MALNUTRITION: Pakistan: Chickpea to fight child malnutrition

03 June 2011
The World Food Programme has turned to the local chickpea to treat young children suffering from malnutrition. Served as ready-to-use, the food will be distributed in government health centres in four provinces in Pakistan.

Quetta: Ready-to-use therapeutic foods (RUTFs) have become an important weapon in fighting child malnutrition, since their early development in Malawi, and subsequent endorsement by major NGOs and UN agencies.
A new variant in production in Pakistan replaces a key ingredient, peanuts, with chick peas which saves money, stimulates the local economy and fits better with local tastes, according to the World Food Programme.



Child malnutrition is a long-standing problem in Pakistan, and according to the World Bank the number of children who are underweight or stunted "is of particular concern since Pakistan has long been considered self-sufficient in diverse agriculture produce and refined foods."
A study by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) early this year, following the devastating floods of 2010, found "critical levels" of malnutrition among flood-affected children. It also found significant evidence that malnutrition, one manifestation of acute poverty and deprivation, was linked to feudalism and the country’s class structure.
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) is distributing a chickpea-based RUTF, known as "Wawa Mum" or "Good food, Mum". The fortified paste is more acceptable to local people than those prepared with peanut butter, a food item rarely used in the country.
The paste contains a rich vitamin and mineral formulation blended with the cooked chick peas and each packet is designed to meet the daily nutrient requirements of children in the targeted age group.

Rich in nutrients
"The chickpea paste is being distributed to children suffering from moderate malnutrition. It comes ready to use, in 50-gram packets, is produced locally and is meant for children aged 6-36 months and suffering from moderate malnutrition," WFP spokesman Amjad Jamal told IRIN.
Three factories are currently processing 200 tons per month which is enough for four million packets of the paste. The WFP hopes to raise that number to 500 metric tons by June and to 1,000 tons by the end of the year, by contracting two additional factories.
The foods, he added, had been provided in four provinces through NGO partners and treatment centres such as government-run Basic Health Units (BHUs) since September 2010, when the post flood situation led to a greater focus on nutrition. Doctors and health workers at government health centres and those working with NGOs identify children in need of dietary supplementation.
"It is not uncommon to spot malnourished children in communities everywhere," Faisel Aziz, who volunteers with the charitable Edhi Foundation in Balochistan, told IRIN.
WFP reports that the chick pea formulation may soon be available in Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Ethiopia
http://southasia.oneworld.net/todaysheadlines/chickpea-to-fight-child-malnutrition-in-pakistan

MALNUTRITION: Pakistan: 30% of Pakistani children out of school due to malnutrition

 Maha Mussadaq :  June 10, 2011

WFP survey reveals increased school dropout rate in the past 3 years.


Thirty per cent of Pakistani children cannot attend school due to nutritional deficiencies, according to a survey conducted by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).
According to the national nutritional survey that studies data over the past six months, an increased number of children are dropping out of school due to malnourishment. The data indicates that calorie intake, which is required to be 2,000 kilocalories, has decreased to 1,600 kcal.
“For the past three years, the situation in Pakistan has been deteriorating and the environment is very difficult,” WFP Country Director Wolfgang Herbinger told participants at a seminar organised by the WFP in Islamabad on Thursday. “This is the time to set priorities as Pakistan battles with one of the worst floods in its history.”
Prominent educationist and the prime minister’s special assistant Shahnaz Wazir Ali spoke about feeding sessions in schools as a means to retain students. “It ensures that children come to school and has a deep impact on socio-economic development,” she said.
“The federal government has provided Rs400 million to the provinces to design and implement food education infrastructure. Provinces are now in the driving seat and can decide which measures they want to take in delivering education,” she said.
Fata education directorate’s Fazal Manan said that the area’s literacy rate is a meagre 17%, which is the lowest across the country. “There are three major issues that we are tackling: access to education, quality of service and across-the-board availability. Bad governance is another problem area.”
Manan said that there are approximately 600,000 students in Fata against 21,000 teachers. Most buildings, he said, are partially or fully damaged and establishment of a university in Fata is also on the cards.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/185978/30-of-pakistani-children-out-of-school-due-to-malnutrition/

MALNUTRITION: Pakistan: High infant, maternal mortality rate

Asma Ghani : June 03, 2011
ISLAMABAD - Despite being signatory to several international development strategies, including MDGs and commitment to achieve reduction in Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) by 2015, Pakistan suffers a high infant and maternal mortality and inadequate health care facilities with high population growth as compared to other regional countries.
According to Economic Survey 2010-11 released on Thursday, Pakistan’s performance as compared to other regional countries for the year 2010 shows that it still suffers a high mortality rate in infants - 63.3 per cent - and the maternal mortality - 89 per cent, amid the burden of diseases and inadequate health care facilities with high population growth. Though the fact that Pakistan has made progress during the last couple of years towards achieving these health targets yet the pace has been sluggish. Mortality, morbidity and slow progress of indicators in the maternal and child health are major concerns in the progress towards achieving Millennium Development Goals and Pakistan is lagging behind from other developing countries in these indicators. The survey reveals that in spite of adequate production and sustained availability of foods, malnutrition is persistently prevalent in the country.
According to the available data, about 38 per cent of children less than five years of age are underweight and 12 per cent are severely under weight, reflective of wide spread malnutrition among women during adolescence. In addition, micronutrient deficiencies such as iron, iodine, zinc and vitamin-A are widespread, particularly among pre-school children.
However, life expectancy at birth is a good indicator of health and here Pakistan has done better. The average life expectancy at 67.2 years estimated for 2010 is well comparable with Bangladesh, Nepal and Thailand but the mortality rate for children under age five and infant mortality still remains high due to birth related problems, immunisable diseases, malnutrition and unhealthy dietary habits and low female literacy rate.
Notwithstanding the increase in absolute terms the ratio of health budget to GNP/GDP remained more or less static at around 0.5-0.7 percent. For 2011, total health care expenditure is estimated at 0.23 percent of GDP. And currently a total of 82 development schemes with PSDP allocation of Rs.16.9 billion for year 2010-11 have been executing through ministry of health.
The survey claims that there has been a noticeable improvement in some health indicators over the years. The health care personnel-doctors, dentist, nurses and paramedics etc in public sector have also increasing considerably over time in the country. Up to the year 2010, there are 144,901 physicians, 10508 dentists, 73,244 nurses, and 27.153 midwives. Besides, there are 972 hospitals in the country with total of 104,137 hospital beds, 4,842 dispensaries and 5,344 basic health units (BHUs) mostly in rural areas.
http://nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Regional/Islamabad/03-Jun-2011/High-infant-maternal-mortality-rate

TUBERCULOSIS: Pakistan: Over 10,500 cases of tuberculosis reported in one month

PPI :  May 26, 2011
ISLAMABAD: As many as 10,831 new cases of tuberculosis have been reported at state-run healthcare facilities in 35 districts across Pakistan during February 2011. This alarming number is a cause of serious concern for the government particularly in the Punjab province that accounted for 86% of the reported cases in 18 districts.
According to FAFEN’s monthly Health Scan, the number of confirmed cases of TB reported in February 2011 is double than the 4,910 cases of the disease reported a month earlier in 37 districts.
FAFEN Monitors collected the data of disease cases from district health offices in 64 districts for February 2011. Executive District Officer (EDO)/Health offices in 24 districts of Punjab, 18 districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 13 districts in Sindh and seven districts in Balochistan, as well as the office of the Agency Surgeon Health (ASH) in FR Peshawar, and that of the office of Health Management Information System (HMIS) in ICT shared the requested information with FAFEN Monitors.

Malaria decrease
Incidence of malaria decreased in February as compared to the preceding month, but it continued to be the most-recorded disease. Malaria constituted 92% of the total 80,367 reported cases of viral diseases in the country in February 2011.
This means that overall cases of viral diseases can be significantly reduced if malaria is controlled. Although a reprieve can be expected due to the extreme heat of the coming summer months in many parts of the country, preventive measures such as mosquito nets, repellants, and insecticides should still be used to keep it at bay. Malaria was most notable in February 2011 in Sindh, where 13 districts reported 57% of all malaria cases recorded nationwide.

Poliomyelitis
The number of reported cases of probable poliomyelitis has also jumped from the previous month. The disease has been reported in monitored districts of Punjab for the first time since November 2010. A total of 47 cases of probable poliomyelitis were reported – 37 in Khushab and eight in DG Khan districts of Punjab, and two in Umerkot district of Sindh.
The most commonly observed diseases in the country were also those whose transmission is aided by particular conditions of environment and hygiene, such as TB and malaria. In line with trends observed in previous months, acute respiratory infections (ARIs) were the most reported set of diseases, making 63% of all reported cases of disease followed by diarrhea and dysentery taken together (12%), scabies (11%), malaria (5%) and gastroenteritis (4%).

http://tribune.com.pk/story/176474/over-10500-cases-of-tuberculosis-reported-in-one-month/

MALNUTRITION: Pakistan: The heedless rush towards cultivating biofuel crops

The heedless rush towards cultivating biofuel crops in Pakistan is quite liable to exacerbate malnutrition levels which, according to a recent World Food Programme report, have already reach the staggering figure of 21-23 per cent in rural Sindh, figures six to nine per cent above the internationally recognised emergency point of 15 per cent. It is higher than in the vast majority of African countries where globally recognised charities work around the clock struggling to alleviate horrendous nutritional shortcomings.

Malnutrition in Pakistan is not restricted to the millions of flood affected people throughout the country but is also clearly evident, and on the increase, amongst many millions of people with low or negligible incomes for both urban and rural dwellers alike.
According to the oft repeated mantra of the ministry of agriculture ‘there is no shortage of food’ in the country yet. Be this as it may, it is also true that a high percentage of the population can no longer, thanks to rampant inflation, afford to purchase the food on offer. However, this does not automatically give the government, along with indigenous and foreign investors and existing agricultural concerns, the right to switch over from cultivating food crops to crops solely intended for what is currently perceived as a lucrative biofuel market.
The ongoing energy crisis, further fuelled by the lure of carbon credit trading and dreams of profiting from funding promised to ventures intended to combat global warming, is encouraging Pakistani agriculturalists, often working hand in hand with corporate interests and government departments, to stop growing food which is a dangerous trend indeed.
The most talked about biofuel material at present is that of a tropical American plant called Jatropha curcas which is being planted, often illegally by using smuggled seed, by growers in Sindh, Balochistan and in the agricultural heartland of the Punjab with even Pakistan State Oil having jumped on the Jatropha bandwagon by setting up an experimental plantation outside Karachi in recent years.
Entrepreneurs claim that cultivating Jatropha does not infringe of food production in any way as it can be cultivated on marginal, waste and arid land of which, they claim, there is over 80 million acres in the country. What they do not say, quite naturally, is that there are vast numbers of people eking out some kind of living from these lands which are utilised in the production of subsistence crops and for the grazing of livestock. Neither do they publicise the hard fact that whilst Jatropha is claimed to have the ability to produce 10 times for oil than corn, this has not yet been proven on a commercial scale plus, even though it is drought tolerant once established, (this means irrigation is required for young plantations).
Moreover, it needs, according to a Dutch study, five times more water to produce a unit of energy than do either sugarcane or corn and 10 times more water than sugar beet making it, in fact, a rather thirsty crop which, if it doesn’t get adequate moisture, does not produce the anticipated oil for use in biofuels. Thus, it goes without saying, if water was available to be diverted to these 80 million acres of ‘waste’ land, it could be used for increased food production on all levels including that of meat and dairy which are often in short supplies.
There has even been talk of growing Jatropha with financial inputs from South Korea with the crop intended for export and processing there not here which is of no benefit to Pakistan, other than financially, whatsoever. The name ‘Jatropha’ may be familiar to some gardeners as members of this genus, dangerous attractive to mealie bugs which could spread on to other crops, were introduced as ornamentals many years ago.
Second on the booming biofuel cultivation list in Pakistan is the legumus tree Pongamia pinnata, an arid zone, drought tolerant species indigenous to tropical and temperate Asia and from which ‘hongo oil’ has been extracted for thousands of years. But, as with Jatropha, it is necessary to wait a number of years until harvesting can begin which is where other, ‘edible’ dangers arise.
The government is already evaluating the use of sugarcane as a biofuel and if this becomes a reality then sugar prices will surge as availability declines. Other important food crops with important biofuel potential include: canola, soy, rape seed, mustard, palm oil, wheat, corn, sugar beet and sunflower although as perennial grasses are also being examined; livestock and dairy production could also be adversely affected in the long term.
With global food prices at their highest ever, the price of American corn has increased by 79 per cent over the last year as a direct result of much of the crop is now destined for biofuel refineries, the immediate affect has been ‘to push another estimated 44 million people in low and middle-income brackets into poverty’ says the World Bank which is extremely concerned about the potential impact of biofuel production on world food stocks.
http://www.dawn.com/2011/04/17/food-production-the-hazardous-trend.html