In a workshop titled “Addressing Zinc Deficiency through Biofortification of Zinc Wheat”, held by the Ministry for National Food Security and Research Syed, Minister Fakhar Imam highlighted a harrowing statistic. Every year, more than 177,000 Pakistani children die before their fifth birthday due to malnutrition.
This coming winter, there has been a lot of concern expressed at the state of malnutrition in Afghanistan, and the devastation that could happen if US sanctions continue. Yet Pakistan, and indeed most of South Asia, needs to take a look inside its own regions as well, as according to the Food and Agricultural Organisation’s overview of Food Security and Nutrition after Covid-19, after Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Nepal are among the countries with very high levels of malnutrition in the world.
Malnutrition, especially of children, is a deep-seated problem, which stems from and seeps into a host of other issues. It is vastly affected by poverty; since the pandemic caused an additional 140 million people to drop into extreme poverty, as estimated by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), it was inevitable that Pakistan would see a rise in malnutrition as well. Malnutrition causes severe health problems, including stunting (low height-for-age) and anaemia. It impacts school attendance and dropout rates as well. It also results in a devastating cycle with a poor economy; poor economic conditions can lead to malnutrition, which impacts the productivity and learning ability of the population, which thus further damages the economy, and as a consequence, inflation.
The right to food security and a basic standard of living is the fundamental right of every citizen, regardless of their position on the poverty line. In October, parliamentarians pledged their support for the enactment of mandatory food fortification legislation to address the alarming levels of micronutrient malnutrition. This campaign for food security must be expanded on an urgent basis.
