Nearly half of Sindh’s under-fives stunted: survey

Nearly five of every 10 children of five-year age or less in Sindh are stunted, while two of them suffer from wasting illnesses.

This has been revealed in the results of the National Nutrition Survey (NNS) 2018, which were formally announced at the provincial level by the Sindh government during an event on Wednesday.

According to the survey, over 40 per cent of children under five years are underweight in Sindh while more than 5 per cent are overweight.

The survey assessed the nutrition status of 18,768 households across the province. Children under five years, adolescent girls and women of child-bearing age were primarily focused in the survey for data indicators related to nutrition, access to water and its quality, hygiene and sanitation, food security, and disabilities among children.

The NNS results show that over 40 per cent of adolescent girls in Sindh are anaemic. The survey also reveals that over 10 per cent of children between the ages of two and five suffer from some form of functional disability in the country.

Speaking at the launching ceremony of the survey results, Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho, the Sindh health minister, said the district-wise data of the survey would allow the government to plan and allocate resources wisely to address malnutrition. “This is an opportunity to utilise these findings to upgrade the national and the provincial nutrition action plan,” she said.

Sharing her views on the occasion, Cristina Brugiolo, the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) chief field office for Sindh, said Unicef and its UN partners were committed to supporting the Sindh government in its efforts to reduce prevalence of all forms of malnutrition among the vulnerable groups in the province.

“We must explore the new global evidence-based interventions, replicate and scale up in our context. We need to sort out low-cost and high impact solutions which can be adopted to change the nutrition situation in the province,” said Sindh Planning and Development Board Chairperson Naheed Shah Durrani.

The survey was proposed by the federal ministry of national health services, regulation and coordination. It was carried out by the Aga Khan University and funded by the British government with technical support from Unicef.

The findings of the survey were shared by Dr Prof Zulfiqar A Bhutta, founding director of the Centre of Excellence in Women & Child Health at the Aga Khan University.

The event was attended by high ranking officials of the government, including officers of the provincial health ministry and the federal ministry of national health services. Civil society members, media persons, officials of the United Nations and representatives from various national and international organisations were also in attendance at the event.