Hunger in Punjab: ‘Vitamin deficiencies here among world’s highest’

The Express Tribune

Punjab suffers from high rates of malnutrition as 39% of children are too short for their age, 30% are underweight and 14% suffer from acute malnutrition. Women and children also suffer from some of the world’s highest levels of vitamin and mineral deficiencies, said Planning and Development Department Secretary Arif Anwar Baloch on Monday. Speaking at the launch of Punjab’s Nutrition Policy Guidance Notes, Baloch said that the alarming malnutrition rates shown by the National Nutrition Survey in 2011 required corrective measures through serious, urgent and collective efforts. Baloch applauded the Steering Committee on Nutrition, the Technical Working Group and international development partners for helping develop the policy guidance notes. Farasat Iqbal, the project director of the Punjab Health Sector Reforms Programme, said the nutrition policy notes were developed in consultation with major stakeholders in the public and the private sectors as well as international development partners. He said that there was a global consensus that health sector interventions alone were not enough to address malnutrition, and that a multisector approach including agriculture, education, food, social protection and water and sanitation was required. Dr Tausif Akhtar Janjua, country director for the Micronutrient Initiative Pakistan, said the main objectives of the dissemination workshop were to seek the feedback of participants and develop consensus on the way forward for the preparation of a nutrition strategy, as well as to strengthen coordination among government departments and development partners to eliminate malnutrition among children and women. Representatives from the health, food, agriculture, education, social protection and water and sanitation sectors shared their sector-specific policy and proposed action plans to address malnutrition in the Punjab. Muhammad Javed Malik, a member of the Planning Commission, stressed that the development of the guidance notes on nutrition was the first step towards the goal of eliminating malnutrition. “There is a long way to go to transform these notes into workable strategies and then develop operational plans for implementing them,” he said. He hoped that Punjab would also take the lead in incorporating the recommendations into work plans for other provinces to follow. Luc Leviolette, senior nutrition specialist from the World Bank, appreciated the speed with which the guidance notes were developed. He said that now it was time to make strategies and action plans, an accountability framework and build capacity for effective coordination among groups. He pledged the support of the Pakistan Nutrition Development Partner, a group of 20 donor organisation. Health Secretary Capt (retired) Arif Nadeem appreciated the input of the participants and urged them to continue their work to address malnutrition. More than 70 participants from government departments attended the ceremony.