KARACHI, Aug 24: Despite numerous advances and improvements in child health globally, malnutrition still remains a major problem, with most cases occurring in South Asia. Almost three quarters of the entire world's low birth weight (LWB) infants, are born in this region.
This was stated by the chairman of the paediatrics department, Aga Khan University, Prof Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta at a seminar on infant and childhood nutrition at the Aga Khan University here on Thursday.
Speaking on the occasion, , a part of the AKU's continued medical education series, Prof Bhutta informed that in other parts of the world, high rates of HIV threatened to reverse all the gains made by child survival programme, increasing malnutrition. Such overt forms of malnutrition do not reflect the true burden of malnutrition, especially micro nutrition, in developing countries, he added.
Professor Abdul Gaffar Billoo stressed the need for educating mothers about breast feeding.
''In a country like Pakistan, where more than 90 per cent of the mothers want to breast feed, only less than 20 per cent end up with exclusive breast feeding,'' he said.
More than 10 years after Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI), majority of mothers have problems with optimum breast feeding practices which needs to be addressed, he emphasised.
Prof S. Q. Nizami added that malnutrition was classified nowadays as underweight, wasted, stunted and sever malnutrition as marasmas or kwashiorkor. The deficiencies are however interlinked and seldom occur in isolation, he added recommending that diet should be least expensive, culturally acceptable and nutritious. It should include meat, cereals and oils followed by vegetables and fruits. Commercially prepared food items are expensive to use and offer no added advantage over homemade food, he stated.
Speaking on obesity in children, Dr Uzma Shah said that around 24 to 75 per cent children today were obese. Risk factor such as cardiac diseases and type-2 diabetes mellitus are found to be associated with obesity, she added saying that although heredity is a vital factor but environmental factors such as food intake and physical activity are also major contributors to obesity.—PPI
