Pakistan is facing a silent crisis of malnutrition, as it includes amongst the countries under-nourishment around the world, which has not improved for decades, said the speakers at a conference here on Monday. A round table conference titled: "Role of Media in highlighting Nutrition in Post-Election Period" organised by Save the Children. A large number of representatives of print and electronic media were participated.
Adnan Sajjid Provincial Manager Save the Children, Advocacy and Campaigns opened the discussion about the role of media in highlighting nutrition during the post election period. He emphasised the importance of putting nutrition on the agenda of media in the ongoing pre election debate and in the post election scenario. He said that malnutrition can be ended in a generation if government and civil society work together and the issue is recognised and prioritised by all stakeholders. He added that it's time for action; we should focus and look at nutrition as an investment and entry point to poverty reduction and socio-economic development. He emphasised that political leaders and decision-makers must be aware about the situation of nutrition in order to opt for and to prioritise effective policies and programmes. He also emphasised for better resource to address root causes of malnutrition.
Dr Irshad Danish, Consultant Nutrition Advocacy shared the overall situation of malnutrition in Pakistan particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa beginning with the concepts of stunting and wasting. The rate of change for both stunting and wasting has been very slow in Pakistan, emphasised Dr Danish. He explained that poverty is not the only reason behind child malnutrition in the country. There is a strong relationship between fertility, disease burden and practices such as hand washing, feeding practices, especially exclusive breastfeeding.
Dr Abdul Jamil, Health and Nutrition Specialist UNICEF KP discussed overall progress on MDGs, challenges, policy framework and recommendations to tackle to the issue of malnutrition. He said that according to National Nutrition Survey 2011 the nutrition challenge facing the province is substantial. The province has a dangerously high rate of nutritional stunting among children under age 5 (47.8pc) as compared to 43.7 percent of the national average.
The prevalence of wasting is 17.3 percent as compared to 15.1 percent of the national average. As per World Health Organisation's standards, a national average of 15 percent or above is labelled as an "Emergency". These figures have not changed significantly in the past decade and require special attention at all levels.
Zahir Shah Shirazi, a senior journalist highlighted the role of electronic media and photo journalism in highlighting issue of malnutrition in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He said development organisations must educate journalists regarding pertinent issues of public health issues such as malnutrition.
Elaborating the role of media in guiding policy change, Ashfaq Yusufzai, a senior Journalist and member Technical Advisory Group (TAG) stressed on provision of updated information on health issues. He noted that media persons can play an effective role in raising awareness among masses as well as advocating with government functionaries for enforcement of relevant laws and allocation of adequate resources for multi-sectoral nutrition interventions. Concluding the discussion, Dr Qaisar Ali, Deputy Director Reproductive Health/Nutrition, Department of Health Khyber Pakhtunkhwa briefed the participants that government is tackling the issue of malnutrition on a priority basis.
