ISLAMABAD: There are 10.7 million stunted children in Pakistan and South Asia is home to 38.9pc of the world’s stunted children, the Global Nutrition Report, 2018 which was published on Thursday says.

However, stunting has declined from 38.1pc to 23.2pc since 2000, the report produced by the Independent Expert Group, Stakeholder Group and the Secretariat at Development Initiatives says.

The report says Pakistan, India and Nigeria are home to 47.2pc of all stunted children with 46.6 million stunted children in India and 13.9 million in Nigeria.

Most households in Pakistan cannot afford a nutritious diet which includes the recommended intake for protein, fat, four minerals and nine vitamins.

The report analysis the budget spent on nutrition by 25 countries including Pakistan and has found an increase in spending on nutrition in all the countries surveyed the last two fiscal years.

The report found a lack of coherence across departments in Balochistan and proposes a new planning and budgeting process to improve the quality and effectiveness of nutrition relevant investments.

The report says there is a 19.2pc prevalence of stunting in the urban areas and 26.8pc in the rural areas.

Wasting still affects a greater proportion of rural children than urban, though the contrast is far less pronounced with 5.8pc prevalence in urban areas and 6.4pc in rural.

More boys are stunted and wasted than girls. About 25.6pc of the boys are stunted and 22.6pc of girls while on average, wasting is on average 6.8pc among boys and 5.7pc among girls.

Published in Dawn, November 30th, 2018