KARACHI, June 2: Health professionals have warned that under-nourished children are relatively more prone to diseases. They were speaking at the inauguration ceremony of a therapeutic feeding centre (TFC) at the National Institute of Child Health here on Saturday. Children admitted with severe malnutrition will be given special diet with the support of Unicef.

NICH Director Prof Afroze Ramzan said that at least six of the Millennium Development Goals, supposed to be achieved by 2015, related directly to malnutrition in children.

Under the TFC, not only children in need would be provided with special food package, but mothers would also be trained to have follow ups at home. On the other hand, training facility would be available for undergraduates and nurses on the importance of nutrition in children, she added.

In-charge of the Nutritional Unit of the NICH Dr Yasmin Kazi said that paediatric population constituted 45 per cent of the population, 38 per cent of which were moderately or severely under-nourished. She said 1,510 children were admitted to the NICH with diarrhoeal problems over the past one year and 15 per cent of them were severely malnourished.

She said that with the help of Unicef and an NGO, Sada Welfare Foundation, malnourished children would be treated in a separate ward at the TFC.

Unicef’s office in-charge in Sindh Dr Asif Aslam said that 49 per cent of children in Pakistan suffered malnutrition of various degrees. The TFC programme was a way to address the problem, he said, adding that four TFCs were being established in major hospitals of Karachi.

Dr Khalid Mehmood A. Khan of the NICH said that 75 per cent of childhood death globally was due to malnutrition and relevant problems.