ISLAMABAD: Over one-third of families in Pakistan are forced to slash their food budget because of increasing food prices and financial problems, and up to 35 per cent of deaths in children below five years of age occur because of food shortage.

This was said by health specialist Qudsia Uzma at the launch of a global ‘Nutrition Advocacy Strategy’ and ‘A Life Free from Hunger’ report by Save the Children organisation on Wednesday.

She said that despite its alarming impact on child survival malnutrition had not received the same degree of attention and investment as other causes of child mortality like diarrhoea and pneumonia.

According to the report, Pakistan together with Bangladesh, India, Nigeria and Peru is among the countries where more than half of the world’s malnourished children live.

After a year that saw food prices register an unusual increase, 38 per cent of the surveyed Pakistani families claim to have been forced to cut back on food intake. One in every five parents (22pc) complained that his/her children did not have enough food to eat.

Recent economic setbacks, emergencies and sharp rises in prices of food have made accessing a nutritious diet increasingly difficult for the poorest.

Widespread flooding in two successive years has destroyed crops and livelihoods, contributing to the price hike. As a result, 58 per cent of households are considered food insecure, Sindh being the worst affected with 72 per cent of its population falling in this category.

Estimates put between 24 and 40 per cent of the country’s total population below the poverty line.

The report reveals that India holds the highest rate — 48 per cent — of stunting amongst children, but Pakistan is not far behind with 43.6 per cent of its children officially reported stunted.

Save the Children warns that Pakistan will have the highest percentage of stunted children population over the next 15 years if a concerted action is not initiated immediately. The stunting rate in Pakistan during the last 10 years has gone up by almost 50 per cent.

Director Advocacy Ghulam Qadir said the country would have to increase coordination between developing and implementing a coherent nutrition strategy if it really wants to improve the situation.

“The federal and provincial governments, international community and all other stakeholders need to react to this crisis now; otherwise the future of millions of Pakistani children will be at stake,” he warned.

The report asks the provincial governments to make nutrition part of their health strategies and annual development plans and allocate adequate funds to ensure implementation of minimum package of direct nutrition interventions.

The government should expand the role of female health workers to carry out assessment and respond to severe malnutrition at the community level and the Benazir Income Support Programme should increase cash transfers to enable poor families to have access to a nutritious diet, the report said.