Pakistan losing 3% of GDP annually due to malnutrition

Islamabad

The economic consequences of malnutrition in Pakistan are documented as costing $7.6 billion annually, which is nearly 3% of the GDP. Pakistan cannot afford to sustain this drain on the economy. Without this situation changing, Pakistan risks suffering from a ‘demographic nightmare’ of a growing unskilled, economically unproductive population, rather than the ‘demographic dividend’ which has powered the growing prosperity of its neighbours. Investing in ending malnutrition is one of the most cost-effective steps governments can take: every $1 invested in proven nutrition programmes offer benefits worth $16.

Views on the economic impact of malnutrition were shared at a training workshop organized by Scaling Up Nutrition Civil Society Alliance Pakistan (SUNCSA, Pak) with support of Micronutrient Initiative (MI) here on Tuesday.

Opening the workshop, Dr. Naseer Muhammad Nizamani, country director of MI, shared the objectives of the workshop. He said, civil society organisations have a key role in awareness raising, behaviour change communication, as well as advocacy to increase budgetary allocations for nutrition. He said, the adoption of a multi-sectoral approach is the most sustainable solution to addressing malnutrition; however, investments on high-impact interventions are the need of the hour. Dr. Nizamani said that over the past 16 years, MI has been supporting the government of Pakistan to scale-up nutrition programmes in Pakistan. These programmes have made a significant impact to help improve the nutrition and health of the people of Pakistan, especially with regard to salt iodization, flour fortification and vitamin A supplementation.

Irshad Danish, national programme manager of SUNCSA, Pak shared the overall situation of malnutrition in Pakistan and emphasized on the value of investing in nutrition. Referring to the last National Nutrition Survey (NNS 2011) he said 43.7% children in Pakistan under the age of 5 are stunted or suffering from chronic malnutrition. The acute malnutrition rate at 15.1% exceeds the WHO emergency threshold. Mothers and children suffer from micronutrient deficiencies, particularly iron deficiency anaemia, zinc and vitamin A; lack of access to food, poor hygiene and sanitation as well as poor access to sufficient and clean water have exacerbated the risk of malnutrition. Danish said, international examples show that improved nutrition improves growth.

Aslam Shaheen, SUN focal person and Chief of Nutrition in the Planning Commission said that the government of Pakistan is cognisant of the economic and social impacts of malnutrition and is hence taking numerous steps to improve the situation. He said, the Ministry of Planning Development and Reform is spearheading the SUN movement in Pakistan and has established SUN movement Unit for coordination among all SUN stakeholders, alliances/networks at international, national and sub-national level. Currently, government, civil society alliance, donors, UN business networks and SUN Academia and Research network have been established with support from development partners. Aslam said that with the support development of partners, various initiatives have been taken and are contributing towards national as well as international commitments. The provinces were supported to develop their own Nutrition Policy Guidance Notes and multi-sectoral strategies, he added.