March 10, 2006	Friday	Safar 9, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, March 9: Pakistan has a higher prevalence of under-nutrition than certain countries of Sub-Saharan Africa and is unlikely to achieve Millennium Development Goal of halving the number of under-weight by 2015.

According to most recent World Bank report on nutrition South Asian countries — Pakistan, India and Bangladesh — quite contrary to the common perceptions, have higher prevalence of under-nutrition estimated at 38-51 per cent compared to Sub- Saharan Africa with a 26 per cent under-nutrition.

It was always a known fact that a large number of malnourished children lived in South Asia, but this report had come up with the shocking realization that the rates of under- nutrition in South Asia were nearly double than those in Sub- Saharan Africa.

Prevalence rates in South Asia are declining, but are still higher than any other part of the world. As a matter of fact more than half of the world’s malnourished children are found in just these three South Asian countries.

Pakistan has been further identified as a country that is not on track for overcoming non-income poverty.

The report states that even if Asia as a whole achieves the target of non-income poverty target reduction, Pakistan would still be one of the countries that would continue to have unacceptably high rates of under-nutrition in 2015, widening existing inequities between the rich and poor in the country.

Reducing non-income poverty of halving the number of underweight is one of the MDG goals that Pakistan is striving to attain, much like the rest of the world.

The nutrition wing of the health ministry acknowledges in one of its reports that although the problem of malnutrition has been recognized in Pakistan for several years and underlies much of its high infant and under five morbidity and mortality, there have been few attempts to evaluate systematically the determinants or to estimate its economic impact.

The World Bank report warns that malnutrition is costing poor countries up to three per cent of their yearly GDP, while malnourished children are at risk of losing more than 10 per cent of their lifetime earnings potential.

The report says developing countries that invest in better nutrition for their children get high returns on their spending.