ISLAMABAD, Feb 13 (APP):Health experts on Thursday called for starting countrywide awareness campaign to educate parents on the issue of child malnutrition to protect them from having multiple health complications.
According to them, as per National Nutrition Survey 2018, the situation is worst in rural areas, where stunting in five-year old children is 43% against 35% in urban areas.
They added between 1985 and 2018 there has been virtually no change in these figures. Stunting is impaired growth and development caused by poor nutrition, repeated infection and inadequate psychosocial stimulation, they added.
They said that the cumulative annual monetary effect of lost manpower hours, healthcare expenses and lower productivity due to malnutrition in Pakistan is $7.6 billion or about 3% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Dr Wasim Khawaja from Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) said stunted children suffer delayed growth and their brains do not develop as they should and asked the authorities concerned to start an awareness drive for improving maternal and child health.
He said stunted children have seven month delay in starting school while they have low intelligence quotient and more likely to repeat a grade of school. Stunted children complete one year less of schooling and less likely to graduate high school, they added.
He said stunting was a result of chronic malnutrition which is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as excesses or imbalances in a person’s intake of energy or nutrients.
He said stunting was the result of continued low intake of energy and essential nutrients. When children’s usual intake is below their required level it results in impaired growth, and hence short stature for their age, he added.
He said there were multiple reasons for a child to get in the under-nutrition trap, and diarrhea is one of the major causes. Diarrhea leads to excessive loss of nutrients from body even though a child may have consumed sufficient quantity of calories or nutrients.
Dr Sharif Astori from Federal Government Polyclinic (FGPC) hospital said when a child gets intestinal infection due to a bacteria or other micro-organism, he or she develops diarrhea. These bugs attach themselves to the lining of the intestine, and interfere with the absorption of water and other essential nutrients.
There are many reasons diarrhea may happen and most of the times, the body’s natural protective mechanism helps recover the disease and overcomes the micro-organisms, he added.
He said Zinc is beneficial health effects for all ages and especially in children as it improves immune system’s capacity to fight invading bacteria and viruses. Zinc improves growth and development in children during pregnancy, infancy, and childhood, he added.
When contacted an official from the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination said no one can disagree that nutrition is one of the most important factors that need to address in the first days of a child’s life as it is extremely critical to their growth.
“We are working to achieve zero stunting with better use of our healthcare workers. These are the people who are the closest to households and they develop a rapport with and are trusted by the people in the community.”
He said that the intervention of health workers makes a significant impact in childhood nutrition, especially in the child’s first three years.
