KARACHI, Jan 4: Pakistanis living in squatter settlements consume foods neither as per the internationally accepted standards nor as per the National Health Survey.
This explains why one out of every three children is malnourished and one in every three adults is underweight.
This has been borne out in a report which has been included in the latest edition of the Journal of Pakistan Medical Association (JPMA). The survey was based on a pre-structured questionnaire, which assessed the socio economic status as well as the consumption of certain food items in the selected households.
During the survey the houses were also observed for the type of construction, type of toilet facility and availability of utilities and household goods. At 8.3 the household size of the study population was comparable to the national household size of 8.78. However, the average monthly income of this group was considerably less than Rs4,391, the national average, said the report.
Most houses (75 per cent) had just one or two rooms. The roofs were either concrete (27 per cent) or made of asbestos sheets (65 per cent). Eighty-eight of the houses had concrete flooring and the doors were largely made of wood.
Seventy-seven of the households used ghee for cooking while the rest used some other substance. Over half the households consumed iodized salt, according to the survey.
Among the food items, 23 per cent of the households consumed meat, 48 per cent took green leafy vegetables and 29 per cent used fruits daily. Thirty-one per cent of the families used meat two or three times a week. The percentage of households who used meat once a week stood at 41 per cent.
Ninety-one per cent of the families consumed green leafy vegetables two or three times every week and 21 per cent only once a week. Fifty-five per cent of the households had other vegetables four or five times a week while this food was consumed in 32 per cent of the families twice or thrice a week. The percentage of households using this food once a week was 13 per cent.
Pulses were consumed four or five times a week in 39 per cent of the families and twice or thrice in 37 per cent of the households. Twenty-four per cent of the families consumed this food once every week.
Fifty-two per cent of the families consumed fruits only once a week while 56 per cent had them twice or thrice every week. Eggs were used in 32 per cent of the families almost daily while they were consumed only once a week in 53 per cent of the households.
Milk was quite popular in the study population, largely comprising Pathans, as 68 per cent of the families consumed it almost daily. The percentage of households using this item two or three times a week was 9 per cent and that of the families using it once a week was 23 per cent, said the JPMA report.