Every third child under five is stunted in Punjab, says survey

Published March 29, 2019
The report tells that stunting is higher in rural population (34.3 per cent) compared to 26pc in urban population.— Photo courtesy of Zofeen T. Ebrahim
The report tells that stunting is higher in rural population (34.3 per cent) compared to 26pc in urban population.— Photo courtesy of Zofeen T. Ebrahim

LAHORE: Almost every third child under five years of age is stunted in Punjab – with a majority of them in 11 districts of southern Punjab, reveals the Multiple Indicators Cluster Survey (MICS) 2018 report.

Since children’s nutritional status reflects their overall health, the report tells that stunting is higher in rural population (34.3 per cent) compared to 26 per cent in urban population of children in age cohort of 0-5 years. In the same age group, some 21.2 per cent children are classified as underweight and wasting rate stands at 7.5 per cent.

The MICS Punjab report 2018 was launched by the Punjab Planning and Development Board at a local hotel on Thursday – a day after Prime Minister Imran Khan described malnutrition and stunting among children as a major problem for the country and pledged to resolve the issue by including it in his ambitious social safety and poverty alleviation programme “Ehsaas” for the welfare of the poor and downtrodden segments of society.

PTI govt pledges to prove equal to the task of saving children

Reporting the Multi-Dimensional Poverty Index, the report says 26.1 per cent population in Punjab fell under the poverty (multi-dimensionally poor), 12.3 per cent population in urban and 33.9 per cent rural population categories as multi-dimensionally poor. The MPI captures the severe deprivation suffered in the household with respect to education, health and standard of living.

The MICS report reveals that only 3.9 per cent men and 3.2 per cent girls/women aged 15-49 years were reported to be covered through any type of health insurance in the province. And only 2.3 per cent children aged 0-5 years were reported to be covered under any health insurance.

The report explains that 42.8 per cent households in Punjab did receive any kind of social protection or benefits during the last three months that include transfers through zakat, Baitul Maal, BISP, Khidmat Card, any retirement/ pension benefits, Watan card/ sehat card or any other external assistance programme or assistance in school tuition or school related other support for any household member aged 5-24 years.

“Overall, 81.5 women aged 15-49 years and 82.3 per cent men reported that they were somewhat happy or satisfied with their life in the province,” the report said.

The MICS report tells that the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) has come down to 60 children from 75 children per 1,000 births in 2014. The fertility rate has also increased to 3.7 children per woman aged 15-49 years from 3.5 children in 2014. While appropriate contraceptive use is considered important to the health of women and children, the report explains the contraception rate stands at only 34.4 per cent in Punjab.

“Only 20.3 per cent families received any kind of family planning services,” says the survey.

Since immunization is a proven tool for controlling and eliminating life-threatening diseases and is estimated to avert 2-3 million deaths every year, the vaccination rate has improved remarkably to 77.3 per cent children vaccinated within 12 months of birth. Over 92.1 per cent children were breastfed.

The MICS report says 12.9 per cent children of primary schooling age group, 20 per cent children of lower secondary schooling age group and 33.9 per cent children of upper-secondary schooling age group are out of school in the province.

Overall child labour rate has been recorded at 13.4 per cent for the age group of 5-17 years, out of which 10.3pc children are working in hazardous conditions.

Though child marriage before the age of 18 years is a violation of human rights, it remains a reality for 18.6 per cent girls.

Speaking at the launch ceremony, Unicef representative in Pakistan Aide Girma said the MICS data would help the Punjab government make evidence-based, informed resource allocations for the most marginalized girls and boys, men and women in the province to turn the prime minister’s vision of ‘Naya Pakistan’ into a reality for all citizens of Punjab.

Stating that the findings would go a long way in steering the development work in the province, she regretted that many areas in southern Punjab still lag behind on human development indicators, especially child-sensitive indicators. Ms Grima said this survey report would become part of the first nationally coordinated MICS across Pakistan to provide high quality data to track provincial, national and global goals, including for 34 of the SDG indicators.

Punjab Finance Minister Hashim Jawan Bakht said informed data would now be a new currency. He said the government was sensitive to every rupee spent and added that every single penny of the public money would be utilised for desired results.

P&D Board chairman Habib-ur-Rehman Gillani, Bureau of Statistics Punjab director-General Chaudhry Sajid Rasul and chief economist Dr Amanullah also spoke.

Published in Dawn, March 29th, 2019

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